Where Angels Fall
by Frog-Lizard
Summary: Frog: Sometimes, the wings of Cybertronian fliers are all they have in common. Other times they are fastened together by bonds far stronger than even they realize. Bonds of betrayal, friendship, secrets, lies, and sometimes even family. Elita-1 has an uncanny understanding of this fact, but perhaps in her past it wasn't so uncanny at all. Dolhearan Legacy Part 1  G1/WfC/AU
1. Prologue

Disclaimer: I own nothing from Transformers.

Frog: It should be illegal for me to start new stoires XP Oh well.

Basic Info: This is sort of set in G1/WfC AU. The only pairings in this story are canon ones. And...I have some weird ideas, so be prepared for surprises ;)

I know things aren't going to make much sense yet, but bear with me ok :)

Fledgling=Cybertronian adolescent.

* * *

_**Prologue**_

Elita-One's systems rebooted sluggishly as she suppressed a soft groan. One by one functions and feelings returned, and she started to process her surroundings, waiting for her mem. banks to warm up and remind her what was going on. Her optics were yet to online, so she deduced that her overall slow startup must have come from a heavy blow to her helm. A theory that was quickly proven to be correct as various damage reports flickered through her thought processes, soon followed by the onlinement of neural receptors.

The sound coming to her audios was next to be processed, and she could distinctly hear the muffled cries of other bots as they called for help as well as the low, rumbling groan of a building after its collapse.

Wait.

A collapsed building?

Elita-One jolted upright, ignoring the new flashes of pain that it brought to her injuries, and forcing her optics to online a little quicker than they were perhaps ready to. The result was that she had dangerously blurry vision for several klicks as her optics tried to adjust, and even when they had, Elita noted that broken piping somewhere in the building's shambled framework was now leaking various gases and putting her world in a faint haze. Determining no immediate threat, she rose slowly to her feet, countless vorns of training keeping her from the need to recheck to balance as she rose to her full height and looked around a second time from this new vantage point.

And with her memory retrieval now more or less back to its proper aptitude, she could decide her next course of action based on actual facts.

Number One: The Province of Dolhearac was now enemy territory.

Having finished her second scan of the area, she was relieved to find no present threats. However she was a little less pleased to discover but that her rifle was missing, likely buried somewhere in the rubble nearby. She did have an energon knife, but hand-to-hand combat was hardly preferable when dealing with an enemy that relied on stealth and ambush or could snipe her from afar.

Number Two: her injuries were not quite as bad as she originally thought.

She was leaking minimal energon, and at the very worst her helm-wound was potentially sparking. Her strength was fast returning, and her limbs were feeling less sore now that she was online and able to move them again. Odd how a single explosion could cause so much disorientation in so little time. Checking her chronometer she realized that she hadn't been out for long at all. Just the same, she noted that hadn't actually sustained damage from the initial blast that caused this catastrophe in the first place.

Which led her to fact Number Three, which quickly took precedence in her processor.

Optimus was somewhere nearby.

The demolition of the small public services building the original altercation had taken place in had been quick, leaving her in a stunned stupor. But Optimus Prime, loyal sparkmate that he was, had processed the threat, and shielded her from the growing explosion as the others ran for cover. Even now she could almost feel his protective arms crashing around her as the force of the blow sent them into a nearby pillar before all went black. Despite everything she had put him through the last few orns, he still protected her, and she knew he would give his very spark to keep her safe even now.

She was almost afraid save for the soft tendrils of energy around her spark, letting her know that her bonded was indeed online and somewhere nearby. Following this invisible, but undoubtedly powerful energy she stepped around the shrapnel and what remained of a once high ceiling and the floor above that had crumpled down as the building fell in on itself. Rounding a pile of unsightly rubble, she found him and she couldn't suppress the startled squeak as she saw his condition.

The Prime was still unconscious, half buried under the same pile she had just crept past. A few small streaks of energon oozed over his frame, and Elita could see one particularly jagged looking piece of shrapnel nearly dismembering his left arm. Scanning the immediate area for threats, as always, and finding none, she crossed the small distance between them and knelt by his side. Slowly she stroked a hand over her beloved's battered helm, making a visual inventory of every dent and scratch that would be repaired later when they were safe behind Autobot lines again.

That was…assuming she would be returning with him….

"He's not…offline?" a frightfully small voice behind her murmured. Elita stood and spun around in one fluid motion, causing the fledgling seekeress that stood a ways behind her to flinch back. The two femmes stared at each other a moment, bearing almost matching wary expressions. Then in a slow, mechanical movement the seeker raised her hand, pointing a battle pistol at Optimus' limp frame.

"Kitetails," Elita-One warned firmly, stepping purposefully into the young femme's line of fire, "You don't want to do that."

The red seekeress pursed her lips, "But…."

"I'm only warning you once. Put the gun down," the pink femme instructed, keeping her voice level, despite the pain and fear that was coursing through her circuitry. She could give as many warnings as she wanted, she was still unarmed, unless she suddenly learned the skill of throwing knives, "You won't shoot me."

Kitetails flickered her red optics hesitantly, "Symmetry told us she doesn't care if you die though."

The femme commander resolutely refused to acknowledge the pained jolt that ran through her spark at those words, "The question isn't whether or not Symmetry cares, Kitetails," she explained, somehow managing to get out each word without her vocalizer cracking, "The question is really if _you _care that I'm online or not."

The fledgling's optics widened then narrowed, her hands shaking, "W-why _would_ I care what happens to you? I don't even _know _you!" she attempted to yell, but it came out as more of a scratchy whine.

"Yes you do, Kite," Elita-One murmured, her optics softening as she resisted the urge to close the space between them and offer comfort to the young femme.

Kitetails gave a frenzied shake of her helm as she choked back a sob.

"You remember me, don't you?" the femme commander pressed, "I used to tuck you in at orn's end when you were still too small for wings, and were just figuring out how to process speech," and a fond smiled graced her features, "You were such a good little seekerling, Kite. You always shared everything you had and were like a brilliant ray of sunshine the instant you roused from recharge…."

The young seekeress' entire frame began to quiver as she fought desperately to reign in her emotions, "That's not true! You're lying! Symmetry told me specifically not to believe a thing you said because you're a liar!"

"And who are you going to believe? Symmetry or your own mem. Banks?" Elita-One put her hands on her hips.

"I-I-I don't," her systems wheezed helplessly, and she shut off her optics as she turned her helm away from Elita and fired.


	2. Chapter 1: 6 Orns Ago: Orn 1

Disclaimer: I own nothing from Transformers.

Frog: I don't have much to say today other than this chapter takes place six orns before the prologue. See? I told you it'd be explained, it'll just take a few chapters to do so! ;)

Hope all of you had a lovely thanksgiving, and those who live elsewhere, hope you had a wonderful weekend!

* * *

**Six Orns Ago**  
**Orn 1**

"I could almost grow jealous with how much you watch them."

Elita-1 jolted from whatever thoughts had been preoccupying her processor and spun around to see the tall, powerful form of her sparkmate watching her with an amused glint in his optics from the doorway of the observation deck. She frowned at him, and then glanced back out the large windows at the Aerialbot training area as the flying Autobots swooped and spun wildly through the air as they perfected their control over their wings and thrusters.

Comparatively speaking, the Aerialbots were probably the newest addition to the Autobot army, though by now it had been a few vorns since they began. Flight-capable programming had previously only been for seekers, and the majority of them were members of the Decepticons ranks. So there was a fair amount of pressure on this new breed of fliers to perform well.

"It relaxes me to watch them," the pink femme commander stated simply with a small shrug. Optimus came up beside her and watched a moment himself before nodding.

"Yes I suppose it is a calming sight," even under his face mask, she knew he was smiling, "Don't tell me you're thinking of signing up?"

She scoffed playfully at him, "Well why not? The waiting list for reformatting isn't very long, and I think I'd make a _fine_ flier!"

He turned more fully towards her tilting his head, "An interesting thought, but I can't for the life of me imagine what you would look like with wings."

"Really?" Elita flickered her optics.

"Is that so upsetting?"

"Well no, I guess not," she crossed her arms, and stared back out the window, "But I think you could do with a little more imagination."

"I have enough to worry about," he chuckled, joining her in watching the Aerialbots' play, "That's what Jazz is for."

"And Prowl handles everything logical," Elita continued, glancing at him from the corner of her optic, "So what does that leave you to do?"

"Stand tall and give inspiring monologues that will be quoted throughout the ages," he answered simply. She giggled, stepping closer and leaning against his arm, which he promptly moved to wrap around her.

"Would you like to be an Aerialbot?" the Prime asked absently.

"Don't be ridiculous," she snorted with only the slightest hint of hesitation, "I am an Autobot commander, I don't have time to entertain such fantasies."

Optimus noted her response carefully and inclined his helm, "Is that so?"

"Quite so," she huffed, giving him a look. She wasn't exactly unnerved by the way he was staring at her, he was her sparkmate after all. She could feel him lightly prodding her spark for more information, both of them knowing full well that she was avoiding something in the conversation. She paused at his admittedly very polite query before softly declining, but in a way promising that she would explain it all eventually. Optimus did not press the matter. Instead he lightly nuzzled the top of her helm, pausing a moment to enjoy feeling her against him as she smiled slightly and stroked his arm. And then, with a small nod, he returned to his duties, leaving Elita alone again with her thoughts and the window before she, too, figured she should head back to given tasks.

As she walked, a glazed look came to her optics. Memories she tried to force down returned to her processors with a vengeance. Memories of running through the dark, fearing every shadow and even the clicking of her own peds. Of far away lights and the trail of energon behind her. And most vividly of all, of tiny hands clutching her neck and a small voice in her audio.

_"Shister? Where ah we 'oing?"_

"Elita?"

The femme commander very nearly cursed as she was caught completely off guard for the second time in what seemed like a matter of klicks. She all but glared at her second in command as Chromia eyed her critically.

"Yes?" she answered curtly, regaining her composure.

The blue femme frowned, "Is everything alright? You look like you've just had a vision from the Pit and you alll but plowed Moonracer over!"

Elita-One flickered her optics and glanced back over her shoulder to receive a sheepish smile from the pale green femme, "Oh its fine! I wasn't watching where I was going anyways!"

The femme commander continued to stare at her in bemusement before rapidly shaking her helm. Why was she so distracted today?

"Again I ask, is everything alright? Actually, scratch that, let's just skip your obnoxious denial-complex and get straight to what's wrong?" Chromia quipped, crossing her arms and giving Elita a look that clearly stated she would not under any circumstances except for sudden, inexplicable offlinement be getting out of this confrontation.

Her shoulders sagged slightly, "Just thinking thoughts. It's of little real importance I assure you."

The other femme quirked an optic ridge, "…You've been watching the Aerialbots again, haven't you?"

Elita-One straightened, "Well yes….why?"

"An observation I've made," Chromia shrugged, "You always get so spacey after you've been watching them, ever sinse they got here. Can't for the life of me figure out why, since this didn't used to be a problem, but it's just something I've begun to notice."

"Ooh!" Moonracer giggled, skipping up next to them with an almost teasing grin, "Maybe the commander wishes she could fly?"

"No I do not!" Elita snapped, causing the young sniper to cower back. The pink femme quickly straightened until she looked uncomfortable and lowered her optics, "I…apologize. I don't know what's come over me lately…"

_"Except that you do…"_ sneered a voice in the back of her processors.

* * *

It was official. Airaid _loved _it here! Not only was this base more adequately equipped to house Aerialbots such as himself with its open airspace, and tall watch towers he could twirl and dodge through until he made the guards within dizzy with his acrobatics, but it was also more or less in his hometown you could say.

The flying Autobot had been raised in this area near the southern-most end of the province of Praxus. He had already visited his old neighborhood and found many of the same bots were still living there, and he had been more than happy to show off his wings and thrusters. The other Aerialbots didn't really share his enthusiasm, however.

Not that they really ever had. Airaid was considered something of an anomaly in the Aerialbot-program. Unlike Seekers, all Aerialbots had at one time been ground-bound soldiers; it was just a matter of a very long reformatting process, and an even longer training time for the new fliers to become accustomed to all their new sensors and finally the feeling of being airborne. Airaid, however, had taken to the skies the orn after he was reformatted and never looked back. The only member of his team that was considered more of a flying prodigy was Fireflight, but Airaid suspected he might have seeker lineage, even if he had never been built into one. The younger Aerialbot wasn't much competition for his own aerial supremacy anyways, since Fireflight was alway ramming into things unexpecantly when he was distracted by the slightest glimmering distraction.

His com. beeped and he sighed in exasperation, almost ignoring it, but thinking better of it and at least deciding to see who was calling him.

_"Ok, Airaid. That's enough for today. Time to refuel and recharge,"_ came Wheeljack's lighthearted voice from the other end. Airaid rolled his optics.

_"I am a fully functioning adult mech. You do _not_ get to tell me when it's time to shut down,"_ he snorted, taking a sharp turn around one of the obstacles in their training course.

_"Yeah well I'm also you're designated medic," _the inventor, and the mech in charge of the Aerialbot program, cut back in an only slightly teasing tone, "So unless you want to be considered too weak to fly in tomorrow's recon. mission, you'd better do as I say."

_"Why don't you come up here and make me?"_

_"I'd love to, but Perceptor won't let me test my new hover-board."_

_"Wait…you made a hover-board?"_ Airaid asked incredulously as he attempted to hide his real interest.

_"Well…that's what it's _supposed_ to be. I won't really know until someone lets me try it out. Maybe I'll just sneak it-"_

The Aerialbot laughed, _"No, no. That shan't be necessary good sir. I'm coming down."_

He swooped lazily to the left and then made his descent down to the entrance of the training area where Wheeljack was waiting with the other members of his team. Despite his odd face-mask, Airaid could tell the older mech was smiling at him in amusement as he handed him his energon ration for the day, before turning to face the rest of them.

"Ok, quick briefing I guess. You guys are all pretty nicely situated here right? I mean you've had several orns to get acquainted with the immediate surroundings," he looked at each of them expectantly. Fireflight slowly raised his hand.

"Is it bad that I got lost yesterday?" he asked curiously. Airaid snickered and several of the others sighed in exasperation.

"Well…" Wheeljack tapped his chin thoughtfully, "If you had been anyone else I'd say that was a pretty bad sign. _But_ you weren't lost for too long were you?"

"Uh, no," Fireflight mused, "I figured out where I was after reading the signs near the doors."

"Then it's no problem!" Wheeljack's headfins flashed brightly, "Ok, so now that that's all settled, I think it's time you went on your first recon. mission. You know, get a feel for the surroundings at the very least in addition to looking for Decepticon activity. You're to leave the moment all of you are up and have refueled for the orn."

"Very well," Silverbolt nodded, "Is there anything in particular we should look out for?"

"Weeeeeelllllll…..You've heard of the Dolhearac province, right?"

"Of course, it's right across what's left of the Tetrahex province," Skydive provided, "They are a neutral territory."

Slingshot snorted rudely, "That won't last long."

Wheeljack tilted his helm, ignoring the muttered comment, "Right. Just…try to leave them alone, ok? We don't want to make them mad. Dolhearac has been particularly anxious ever since Tetrahex was destroyed in a Decepticon raid. And it doesn't help that the remains of said province are now a vicious battlefield. It never ends well for the recon. missions that get too close to Dolhearan borders, so don't let the same happen to you."

"Yes sir," came Silverbolt's reply as he gave his team a stern look, "Alright, recharge everyone. We need to be on our best tomorrow if we're to learn the landscape. This is our one chance to become familiar with the area before the fighting picks up again, let's make the most of it."

"No thanks, I'm good," Airaid scoffed, flexing his wings. Before the commander could respond however, Wheeljack gave him a scolding buzz.

"You're familiar with South-Praxus, not Tetrahex. And even if you were, I'm sure you'll find it to be quite different than you remember."

Airaid frowned, "What happened to Tetrahex anyways?"

"They were discovered to be helping the Autobot cause by manufacturing weaponry," Skydive sighed, "Unlike most Autobot affiliated provinces however, Tetrahex was too small to have a military of its own. At least not one that could stand the Decepticon threat. Within two orns all that was left is rubble and ruin, the province's inhabitants either offlined or escaped into neighboring Dolhearac and Praxus."

Fireflight frowned, "That's terrible! And Dolhearac still doesn't want to join the war?"

"Dolhearac is one of only a small handful of provinces that has remained neutral through all of this chaos," Silverbolt explained, seeming almost envious of them as he spoke, "Optimus Prime has no intention of pressuring them, and their size and military proficiency has been enough that the Decepticons aren't willing to employ resources to conquer them yet."

"They can't wait forever, of course, like Slingshot said," Wheeljack went on, "But for now, it's better if we keep them neutral especially since all diplomatic relations between them an Praxus show they are just as likely to side with us as they are to side with our enemies. And we've already figured out they prefer to be left alone."

"Sounds like a fun place," Airaid sighed.

* * *

Frog: Questions, comments, and constructive critism are appreciated. In other words, please review! And have a great week! Bye!


	3. Chapter 2:  Orn 2

Disclaimer: I own nothing from Transformers.

Frog: So for this story I've made up a generic frame-type for the bots in Dolhearac. I tried my best to describe it without using excruciating detail, so if you want to get a better idea, you can find a link to a picture I made near the bottom of our profile.

-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-

Fledgling=Adolescent Cybertronian

* * *

**Orn 2**

"Airaid!" how many times do I have to tell you! Stop straying so far off!" Silverbolt snapped as he watched his subordinate swoop far to the right of the others.

"What?" he practically whined back, and if he had been close enough, Silverbolt would have seen a mock pout on his features, "It's not like there are any 'Cons out here anyhow! What's the worst that could happen? Attacks from evil dust clouds bent on my destruction?"

"We're near the border the Dolhearac Province. They're neutrals and they don't much like _either _faction in their territory," the Aerialbot leader explained wearily, "It is best that we not upset them, especially not on purpose!"

Somewhere on his far left, Fireflight carried himself a little closer to where the more mature Aerialbots were more or less keeping a formation, "Do you think the rumors are true? That the basic Dolhearan model can fly?" he quipped curiously.

Slingshot shrugged, "I doubt it. Hardly anyone's ever seen one. But they are pretty uptight about their society in that little bubble of theirs," he snorted, "Think that just because they have very strict border regulations that's going to keep the war far and away from their perfect little lives."

"Regardless of whether or not they can fly," Silverbolt coughed, directing his voice mostly in the direction of Airaid, "It is a well known fact that some of the best snipers on Cybertron _guard_ that border. And so unless you want your spark casing shot out of your chassis, I suggest you keep your distance."

He was answered only with some rather younglingish acrobatics and a delighted whoop. Despite the potential threat, Silverbolt couldn't help but smile slightly. If nothing else, the kid was born to fly. That was more than could be said for most Autobots that were reformatted, he knew that much. He himself didn't even like flying that much, but it almost seemed to be built into the young mechs programming that he was meant to be airborne as often as possible. It was an amusing peculiarity to say the least, if only he would listen to his superior officers more, Silverbolt would be more willing to marvel at it. But as he had said, they were near the edge of Dohearen territory, and it would be just his luck that Airaid would attract their attention.

-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-

"Can I just shoot and get this over with?" a low female voice huffed, narrowed gold optics briefly tearing away from the scope of her rifle to frown at her pastel-pink and blue colored companion.

"Are they in our airspace?" the other femme quirked and optic ridge.

"….No…."

"Then no, you may not," the second femme sighed, returning to her previous task of filing out some report or other for her superiors.

"I feel like they're taunting me," the first femme grumbled, "Can't I at least give 'em a warning shot?"

"That is a waste of precious ammunition and you know it."

The sniper grumbled but said nothing more. The border outpost the two of them currently occupied was perhaps one of the newest buildings in the province, put in place as extra defense against the ever advancing battle lines of the Autobot/Decepticon war. This area in particular, was near to the fighting, and as such the border commander, Powderain, had stationed herself there.

Powderain was a kind-sparked femme, something that was becoming a rarity in the military command of Dolhearac. And if you met her off duty, you'd never know she was a soldier. However, she took her position seriously, and when border infractions did on occasion become an issue, they were handled quickly and efficiently according to the standards that Military Overseer Wisp had put in place. She was a typically Dolhearac model, and like the other femme in the room, she was built to be as lightweight as possible. Two elegant wings sat folded above her hips, devices that were used not so much for the flying of Seekers and Aerialbots, but rather for gliding silently over the world below. Shadows from above that you never heard until it was too late.

However, the same could not be said of all of Dolhearac's populace.

The sound of jet engines cutting power were heard outside klicks before the only door to the room was all but shoved open as a red blur skidded to an unsteady halt in front of the border commander and stumbled to her knees. Powderain set her data pad aside, offering the new femme a warm smile, "Well that was fast!"

The fledgling seekeress, Kitetails, rose quickly to her peds again and saluted proudly, "Of course! What did you expect? All files were delivered safely and securely to the Magistrate's office."

The sniper off to the side growled, "Must you be so loud? I'm trying to concentrate!"

Kitetails slumped and lowered her gaze and Powderain gave the back of her subordinate's helm a look, "Patience Villanelle."

Villanelle barely gave them a glance over her shoulder before once again returning her attention to the irritating targets outside that blatantly re_fused_ to get close enough for her to shoot down legally. Powderain shook her helm and huffed as she turned back to the dejected looking fledgling. But before she could speak, the young seekeress let out a heavy sigh, "She's kind of right. I am too loud…I'm sorry. I don't mean to…"

It really wasn't something anyone could help, to be honest. Seekers were a rarity outside of their own cities or the Decepticon ranks, and on top of that Kitetails was quite possibly the only seeker in this half of the Dolhearac province if not the only one period. The loud jet-engines of seekers and Autobot fliers did not mesh well with the near silent gliding models of the Dolhearens'. Not to mention there seemed to be a preprogrammed vanity into all Cybertronian fliers that caused them to think they were more elite than all the others. Therefore, it was beyond uncommon for an individual of one model to be accepted into the society of another. Many in Dolhearac weren't quite sure how Kitetails had come to be in there in the first place and furthermore _staying_ as long as she had been allowed to, but it seemed that Magistrate Symmetry held a soft spot for the red femme.

Powderain tried hard not to roll her optics at the younger femme, and slowly stood from her chair, "Let's not start that talk again, shall we? I believe I made my point _quite_ clear the last time. Yes you are different. No that doesn't mean you get to mope about it."

Kitetails shifted awkwardly under the adult's gaze for a moment before nodding, "Yes ma'am."

"And besides," the light pink femme smiled brightly, "You're the fastest set of wings we've got! We wouldn't be able to send and receive supplies and reports _nearly _as quickly as you can deliver them! That's the trouble with gliding, it's good for the endurance or being sneaky, but _awful _for getting anywhere fast! And if I carry too much my poor little arms get s_o _soar!"

The fledgling managed a small smile, and nodded, "Y-yeah. I guess you're right," her gaze wondered about the room. Her light red, almost orange optics fell on the sniper's still frame and she tilted her helm curiously, "How's the hunting, Villanelle?"

"It would be better if I were allowed to shoot," Villanelle snipped. Kitetails practically skipped up next to her and peaked out the narrow windows to see what she was so intent on killing and yet not being permitted to. It took her a moment to locate whatever it was, but when she did, she gasped in delight.

"Powderain look!" she called excitedly, bouncing on her peds, "They're fast fliers! They're fast fliers just like _me_!"

Powderain chuckled lightly, and shrugged "More or less."

Kitetails continued to stare out the window in fascination as she watched one of the "fast fliers" swoop in low towards the ground before pulling back up. Never had the fledgling seen something so beautiful and…fun! She had never seen flight-enabled bots as fast if not faster than she was this close before! Well...except for those that had already been shot down. Her optics grew brighter and brighter as she watched them, and before she knew it she had spun around, asking the first question that came to her processor.

"Can I go say hi?"

Powderain frowned and the fledgling quickly backed off, her optics dimming drastically, and was about to apologize for asking when the border commander let out a long sigh, "I…suppose that wouldn't hurt. Perhaps you can give them a warning that they're coming dangerously close to our airspace and request they take their surveillance elsewhere?"

The red seekeress stood up a little straighter and nodded excitedly, "Oh yes! I can do that! I can do that _no_ problem!"

"Then off you go," Powderain waved her out the door, "But be careful!"

Of course the fledgling was already gone before she could fully hear the last part. Out the door and down the stairs to the nearest point she could use to take to the skies. She transformed as she became airborne and sped off towards the closest _'fast flier'_.

"Really?" Villanelle gave her commander a look. Powderain just grinned.

"Yes really! She's young, she needs a chance to meet a bot or two like herself."

The sniper's frown deepened, "But they're not seekers."

"Does it matter?" Powderain took a glance out the window.

"To _her_. Probably not. To _them_…"

Powderain just shrugged, "Well according to the rule data-pad-compilation, if they try to attack her, you're free to fire at will."

Villanelle considered this a moment and then returned her attention to the window as she lightly fingered the trigger of her rifle.

-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-

Slingshot twitched and turned sharply, "Seeker inbound!"

Silverbolt and the others looked just in time to see a relatively small flying craft hurtle itself towards Airaid before pulling up and doing a small loop around him. The younger Aerialbot was caught by suprise which quickly turned to anger as the seeker started circling him. Silverbolt studied its movements for a klick, recalling his data on seeker battle tactics to try and determine what exactly it was doing, and likewise how Airaid should respond before he got hurt. However, it seemed that Skydive beat him to it as the tactician suddenly laughed and swooped closer.

"I believe it's inviting you to play a game," he chuckled mildly, watching in amusement as the seeker started to circle them both in a figure-eight pattern.

"It wants to what?" Airaid gave him a bemused look, "But isn't it a—"

"Decepticon, no," Skydive crossed his arms, "See? No purple brands. And actually I think it's just a—"

At that moment the seeker seemed to grow tired of it circling and transformed in front of them with a smile which Skydive returned as his theory was proven correct before he could even finish it, "—child."

The other Aerialbots had ventured closer, causing the fledgling seeker, or seeker_ess_ rather, to shrink back shyly. Silverbolt sighed with relief that it wasn't a threat and hesitantly approached further until he was within proper speaking distance.

"What are you doing out here, little one?" he asked softly, at least in comparison to the sound of engines that kept them airborn. She tilted her helm at him, optics wide with curiosity before smiling again.

"I wanted to say hi! So hi!" she chirped.

"Hi!" Fireflight called back with a wave.

"Are you alone?" the Aerialbot leader asked with a small frown, quickly checking the area to make sure no parents were coming at them or something else that would probably end badly.

"I'm with you guys aren't I?" she asked looking around too, "How could I be alone?"

"He meant, do you have your caregivers with you?" Skydive explained, still laughing silently at the inquisitive little seeker. She seemed so fascinated by them that she couldn't quite make up her mind who or what to look at, and so her gaze flickered around distractedly, even as she answered Silverbolt's original question.

"Oooooohhhh!" she giggled at herself and pointed in the direction of Dolhearac, "They live in the capital. But Powderain is looking out for me right…oh…" she frowned slightly, "I'm also here to tell you that Dolhearac doesn't appreciate you flying so close. I think it's making the border patrol nervous…"

"I see," Silverbolt sent Airaid a quick glare, "We will keep that in mind on future missions. Thank you—"

"Kitetails," she quipped with a small nod. He smiled kindly at her.

"Thank you for informing us Kitetails. We will not trouble Dolhearac any further."

"Great!" she bobbed up and down a few times, "Do you wanna play now?"

Skydive smiled sympathetically at her and shook his helm, "We'd love to but unfortunately we—"

"Sure!" Airaid grinned. His superiors gave him a dull, not quite suprised look which he easily shrugged off. Any opportunity to test out his flying skills was worth it, "How about one quick race to the end of the Dolhearac province?"

Kitetails nodded enthusiastically as Silverbolt scolded, "That's still a long ways off, Airaid."

"What? I'll bring her right back to this same spot!" he huffed, "And I'll make sure I don't get to far ahead so that she stays safe."

"But what if _I_ get ahead of _you_?" the fledgling challenged happily.

"Not happenin'. Ready, Go!"

"Hey!" the red seeker whined as he sped past her, nearly knocking her out of the air in the process. However, Kitetails wasted no time transforming and chasing after him.

Skydive sighed heavily, shifting to his alt. mode as well, "I'll go keep an optic on them."

-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-

Villanelle sighed in exasperation, "I just _knew_ she was going to pull something like that…"

"Like what?" Powderain asked disinterestedly as she repaired a minute fault in her paintjob.

"She sped off with one of them!" the sniper snapped, "Probably some ridiculous race or something!"

"Just leave her be, Villanelle. She's a fledgling, she's permitted to have some fun," she set the paint canister aside and stretched, "Just the same, I suppose I'll give her a com. before she gets herself into trouble."

_"Oh Kitetails!"_ the pink femme sang as she activated a private link with the young femme.

_"Yep!" _

She smiled fondly. It had been a long time since she had heard the young femme sounding so elated, _"You're having fun, aren't you?"_

_"Oh yes! We're racing right now! Can I call you back?"_

_"I won't take long, dear. Just remember to come back here to refuel before we send you back home."_

_"I will! Airaid said he's gonna take me _right_ back when we're done!"_

_"Perfect!" _the older femme suddenly frowned and made her way over to the border tower's comm. station,_ "Be a good femme for me, ok?"_

_"Yes ma'am!"_

"What's that look for?" Villanelle drawled, bored now that her targets were no longer pressing at the border.

"It's for thinking. Now if you'll excuse me, I've got to make an important call."

-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-

Just as Airaid had suspected, the fledgling seeker wasn't capable of beating him speed-wise. Seekers were fast, sure, but she wouldn't reach her full capacity until her final frame. Just the same, he willingly humored the femme by sticking close by, letting her pass him occasionally only to slice right up ahead of her again. He was sure she had caught onto his game by now, but fortunately she didn't appear to be put off by it, and if anything the laughter resonating from the smaller craft was steadily rising.

Airaid smiled to himself. He knew he probably shouldn't have offered to race her. There was likely a very stern lecture coming from somebody once he got back. Not the way he was originally planning to spend is after-orn, but there was just something of a connection he felt to the younger flier. Perhaps he saw a bit of himself in her.

He could still remember when he was first mastering his flying technique. It hadn't been all that long ago if he thought about it, but it certainly did feel that way. He was always looking to test his abilities against someone, anyone he could find, but was most often turned down. He imagined Kitetails to be in a similar situation, and so he knew just how much one chance, however trivial, meant to a young flier. Besides, what was the harm in one little race?

"You're too good at this," the seekeress complained, but judging by her light tone, he knew she really wasn't all that upset, "Let's try something else!"

Some of the plating on Airaid's alt. mode shifted in something akin to a jet shrugging if that were possible, "Kay. What exactly did you have in mind?"

"Ummm," she did a barrel roll as she thought, "How about….Well I don't really know….What do fast fliers normally do?"

"Fast fliers?" he gave an indignant snort, slowing down to a conversational speed, "We have a proper name called 'Aerialbot', got it?"

Kitetails made a slight buzzing sound, "But I'm _not_ an Aerialbot! So that doesn't work!"

"That's why you call _me_ an Aerialbot, and _yourself_ a seeker!"

"But it's so much easier to say _'fast-fliers'_ than to say both of those!" if it wasn't for her alt. mode, the femme would have been pouting, "Besides, compared to what most bots in Dolhearac call you guys, that's not even _slightly_ offensive!"

"...They call us names?"

"Mmhmm. All kinds of nasty names," her voice grew soft, "Let's just say that the Gliders aren't very fond of anything with jet engines…"

"Gliders?" Skydive swept in closer from where he had been observing at a distance, "So the Dolhearan's _can_ fly?"

Kitetails did another barrel roll and hummed, "In a way. They _do_ have thrusters I suppose, but that's mostly just to give them vertical lift. The rest of what they do is just gliding on the atmospheric currents."

"You don't say," Skydive mused in fascination, "Perhaps you could introduce us to one sometime? I'd love to discuss their flight capabilities sometime."

The seekeress slowed, "I…don't think that's going to happen any time soon. Even if someone _was_ willing to talk to you, Symmetry would _never_ allow it…"

"Well that's a shame," the older of the two Aerialbots sighed, "But then…why are you out here?"

"I'm….probably not supposed to be…" Kitetails admitted wearily, more to herself than to her two new companions, "But they'll most likely let it slide under the excuse that I'm a seeker or something to that affect…"

"You know, if they hate seekers and other fliers so much, why don't your creators just move you all away?" Airaid scoffed.

"I don't…have my creators…"

Wordless, the seekeress shifted once more to her robot form and came to a stop, causing the other two to equivalently skid to a halt, fall back, and join her as she turned towards the Dolhearan Province with soft optics.

"They took you in?" Skydive provided gently, hovering closer to the young femme.

She nodded, smiling slightly, "I was just a sparkling at the time. Nobody's ever bothered to tell me where I came from, that is if they even know. I guess I could have left at any time, it's not like they could stop me, but…"

Much to Skydive's surprise, and perhaps even admiration, Airaid came up to her other side, "You're loyal to the ones that raised you, huh?"

"Mmhmm," she sighed, "They, at least, have always been….good to me. And I guess I don't know where else I would go…"

"Know the feeling," Airaid shrugged.

"You do?" Skydive asked skeptically. He supposed it was possible. He, personally, hadn't really ever talked to the younger mech about his past. Airaid had never offered up any information that made him curious until now, either.

The other Aerialbot grinned, "How else did you think I knew 'Jack so well? The mech literally found me in a box at his doorstep, and took me in!"

"Ah, so _that's_ why you were so easily able to get under his armor plating and convince him to make you a member of the Aerialbot team," Skydive chuckled , despite the fact he was feeling a little disappointed in himself for not noticing the unique relationship between the Airaid and the eccentric inventor that had given them all wings before now. But looking, back, it explained so much of what the obnoxious daredevil had been able to get away with.

Kitetails was smiling again, "Just like Powderain and Ariel!"

"Are they your caregivers?" Skydive asked kindly, relieved to see the young femme's brightened face plates again. Even if they were still practically strangers, he never liked to see a sparkling, youngling or fledgling look upset.

"Yes! Well…sort of. Powderain is more of my mentor and Ariel…" she slumped slightly, "Ariel defected from Dolhearac when I was still a youngling…" she shook her helm, casting Airaid a bright grin, "Who's 'Jack?"

"Wheeljack's the mech that reformatted us into fliers…and my caregiver I guess you could say."

Her optics brightened, "You mean, you weren't built to fly at first? But you're so good at it!"

Airaid smirked proudly and Skydive rolled his optics as the younger mech kicked his thrusters on a little higher, "Yeah, everybody calls me a prodigy. Guess I'm just that amazingly talented. The skies are mine to conquer!"

Kitetails clapped and giggled as she bobbed up and down, "Not if I conquer them first!"

The Aerialbot snorted back a laugh, swooping behind her and tapping the tips of her wings, "Sorry kid, but you're going to need a better wingspan before you can even _dream_ of beating me in the air!"

"Hey!" she huffed, swatting him away as he laughed, "Just you wait! I'll have the greatest wingspan your optics have ever seen!"

"Really?" he jeered, "Do you have any _idea_ how massively huge the biggest fliers are?"

She shrank back, "No?"

Airaid smirked, incling his helm toward her, "You don't even come up to their ankle joints."

The fledgling almost looked as though she could fall out of the sky right then and there, "Are you serious?"

"One-hundred percent fact!"

Just because he said that, Skydive had the _overwhelming _urge to test that theory and see if a bot of Kitetail's proportions _would_ indeed fall short of the ankle joints of some of the larger shuttles.

The femme whistled softly, "I wish I could see something like that!"

As they talked, they completely missed a small set of ground-bound energy signatures. Silverbolt, however, did not.

_"You have Decepticon ground units approaching from the south,"_ he reported calmly over their link. The other two Aerialbots gave brief acknowledgments that they had heard, and increased their vigilance. Well, Skydive did anyway. As far as Airaid was concerned, only one of them needed to be on the lookout at a time.

And thus while Skydive was looking one way, Airaid was not looking the other direction from which two missiles were fired. The other Aerialbots came into view behind them just in time to see two of the fliers fall out of the sky, trailing smoke behind them as the third dove after them in a desperate attempt to save one from crashing to the planet's surface. Silverbolt yelled for his team to hurry, though they all knew there was no way they could get there in time.

They arrived above the rubble where their comrades had gone down. The Decepticons retreated at the sight of more fliers, so they were free to search in safety for the most part.

"Found 'em!" Fireflight called, swooping down lower over what the others suspected to have been a tower at one time. They quickly followed the youngest Aerialbot down to ground level, and found, sure enough, their two wingmates, plus the fledgling seekeress.

"Airaid!" Silverbolt called, seeing the young Aerialbot was still conscious, and had mostly likely been the only one that wasn't hit by the attack, "What happened?"

"My thrusters gave out," he groaned, rubbing a part of his back struts where he had hit the rubble, "I already knew it'd be tough to keep Skydive from cracking his helm on something, but that fledgling is heavier than she looks!"

"Wait…you tried to save _both _of them?" Slingshot asked incredulously as he landed next to them, absently scanning both of the downed fliers. Skydive was missing a leg, and Kitetails had been hit in her left shoulder plate, the injury dangerously close to important components in her chassis.

"Well yeah! What did you expect me to do? Pick one and let the other fall to his or her death?" Airaid snapped back.

"Obviously! Better to save one than risk losing all three of you!" his wingmate sneered.

"That's enough!" Silverbolt interrupted before any sort of argument/brawl could break out as he collected Skydive and prepared to take off again, "What matters is that all three are still online, and that we have to get them back to base. Slingshot, carry the femme, yes she's a neutral, but we don't have time to drop her off back at home and we _certainly _aren't going to leave her to die out here. Airaid, is there any chance you can get your thrusters back online?"

The younger Aerialbot tried a few times with no success before finally they sputtered a few times and finally blaze back to life. He gave his commander a sharp nod, hovering above the ground as proof. The Aerialbot leader allowed a small relieved smile and turned to leave, "Fireflight, keep an optic on Airaid in case he starts having any trouble."

"I don't need his help!"

"Then ignore him staring at you," Slingshot muttered, having also collected his burden from the debris, "It's not like he'll watch you for very long anyways. Something's _bound _to distract him eventually."

Fireflight chuckled nervously, flying a little closer to his wingmate, "It's ok Airaid. At least you won't face the indignaty of me carrying you back."

He mumbled something to himself as they took off again and headed straight for the Autobot base.

-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-

Powderain stared at the two vorn old case file with narrowed optics. As usual, Wisp had been quite precise in her notes to the point the pastel femme felt she may as well have been reading statistics or something equally numerically related. It didn't help that she was already frustrated from searching long and hard for this highly classified document, which she should have had access to, but apparently Wisp had other plans. Fortunately, a quick call to Schema cleared everything right up and she was given right of entry. If it was indeed something she wasn't supposed to see, well then she had a good excuse to back her up.

It was rather a long, arduous and boring read, but Powderain was determined, and finally at long last she found the data byte she had been looking for.

_Mission Code 451_

_Log: 27_

_Report: Subject located. Designation: Airaid. Function: Aerialbot.  
Mission Phase 1 Confirmed Complete._

_Begin Mission Phase 2_

Powderain didn't need to read any farther than that.


	4. Chapter 3:  Orn 3

Disclaimer: I own nothing from Transformers.

Frog: Tada! At long last I have returned XD Now to homeworks!...Drat...

Oh well, I hope you all enjoy this chapter. It was originally going to be twice as long, but I changed the timing of a few things so that I could get this chapter up sooner :3 Also stuff is starting to be revealed O_o Though I'm sure some of you already guessed XD

Oh and the idea of Moonracer cross-training as a medic comes from Hummergrey's "Essence of Spark" which all of you should read 'cause it's that awsome ;)

_-o-o-o-o-_

_Fledgling=Adolescent Cybertronian_

-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-

**Orn 3**

Her shoulder hurt. That was the first thought she could process. It wasn't too bad, mostly just a dull ache that sat like a glowering gestalt in the back of her processors as she came online from the stasis coding she had been put under. She sluggishly switched each operation back into function as the coding retreated from her frame. Her optics onlined of their own accord, were found to be dreadfully out of focus, shut off again and tried a second, a third and finally met success on their fourth attempt.

What met her gaze when she finally figured out what she was looking at was your standard med-bay lighting and overhead equipment. Now Kitetails wasn't exactly sure how she had wound up in the med-bay. Last she remembered she had been talking with other older faster fliers, but anything after that was completely missing from her processors. With a small frown, she moved her helm to the side to get a better view of her surroundings. This didn't look like any med-bay she had been in before. But perhaps if she had gotten injured far from home, she had simply been taken to the closest one. And look! There was even one of the Aerialbots on the berth next to hers. What was his designation again…Skydive?

Someone suddenly snapped their digits in her field of vision to get her attention and she squeaked, swatting at the frighteningly close hand like a human might do after walking into a spider web. She heard the hand's owner chuckle as the offending appendage was withdrawn and looked up to see a strangely shaped helm with glinting blue optics watching her mirthfully.

"Easy there, kiddo. I don't bite!" he assured, head fins flashing. They were quite distracting really.

"Hi?" she offered weakly.

"Hello," he greeted with a wave, "You're designation is Kitetails, right? I'm Wheeljack!"

Lightbulb! "You raised Airaid!" she chirped, delighted to meet the mech her new friend was so fond of.

He looked almost bashful before chuckling again. It was a warm sound, and it helped the young seekeress to relax some, "Oh, he mentioned that did he? He's a good kid…well not so much a kid anymore I guess, but you know he…always will be to me," he shook his helm, those funny lights on his head turning a light yellow, "So how's the shoulder? Your self-repair taking care of everything ok? I did what I could, Ratch was busy with Skydive's leg and I've never worked on a seeker frame before."

She briefly checked her internal updates, found no problems, and smiled up at him with a curt nod. Wheeljack was visibly relieved and stood up straight, arms crossed over his chassis.

"I, ah, hope your caretakers don't mind that you're here. We didn't want to risk sending you back in your condition, and so far we aren't sure who we could contact."

She flickered her optics at him in puzzlement before it dawned on her. Airaid was an Autobot. Wheeljack was, therefore, most likely and Autobot. _Therefore_, therefore, Wheeljack would _not _be working a med-bay in Dolhearac. Wheeljack must have seen her tense, or react somehow, because he quickly placed a reassuring hand on her shoulder.

"It'll be ok, kid, don't worry. If you communication systems are back up and running, you can give your folks a call and let them know where you are. We'll get you home as soon as you're well enough to fly, I promise."

Once again, the inventor's sincere tone eased her worries and she nodded, twisting her hands nervously as she once again turned her concentration to internal functions. After a couple klicks she got through to Powderain and was immediately met with her mentor's almost frantic sounding tone.

_"Kitetails! Where in Primus' name have you been? And where are you now? Do you have any _idea_ how worried you've made me? And Symmetry? And even Wisp? Have you ever even s_een _Wisp worried before? We almost had an army out to find you!"_

_"I got hurt…" _the seekeress put in awkwardly when there was a small lull in Powderain's rant.

_"Hurt? How? Where? For the sake of all that is good and holy under Primus where _are_ you Kitetails?"_

_"I don't know, I don't remember. But the Aerialbots took me to their base. And they said I can go home as soon as I'm better."_

There was a long pause on the other end, and the seekeress could just imagine her mentor calming herself down so that she could discuss this reasonably, _"I would rather come get you myself than let you fly all the way back here alone. The number of Decepticon sightings in Tetrahex is increasing by the joor, and seeker or not, I refuse to let you cross alone!"_

_"I could ask one of the Autobots to come with me if that would make you feel better," _Kitetails offered, knowing that her mentor had work to do and it was probably even more dangerous for the slower glider to travel alone than herself, "_They've all been so nice to me so far, I doubt they'd mind_."

Another bout of silence over the link, "_I suppose that would depend on who they pick_."

_"Probably an Aerialbot, since they fly. Would you like me to ask?"_

_"Please."_

The link was cut off for the time being and Kitetails looked over at where Wheeljack was watching a frowning medic work on Skydive. Well that Aerialbot was obviously out of the question at least. The medic noticed her watching and sighed wearily.

"Your patient, Wheeljack," he reminded boredly before going back to making calculations for Skydive's new leg.

Wheeljack spun around quickly, almost losing his balance, "Well? What's the word?"

She fidgeted a moment, wondering exactly how to put her question into words. What she eventually came up with wasn't exactly what she had planned, "Uhh, well, how am I going to get home?"

His head fins flickered a few colors and Kitetail's felt her wings twitching in intrigue at what their purpose might be, "Well we can't very well just send you off all by your lonesome—"

"Actually that's not true," the medic grumbled.

Wheeljack rolled his optics dramatically, ending with an un-amused look at his comrade, "Are you Ratchet or Prowl?"

"Does it matter?" the medic quirked an optic ridge at him, not pausing his work for even a klick.

"Well Mr. CMO, I guess I'm just surprised that you would send a barely healed bot, and a _fledgling _no less, off into no-mech's-land by herself!"

"I didn't say that! We could just as easily allow someone from Dolhearac to come fetch her. Fledgling, youngling or even sparkling, her existence is not worth potentially losing some of our own when there _are_ other options."

Kitetail's frowned. This wasn't going well.

"Actually, um...Mr. CMO, sir?"

The medic glared at her as Wheeljack bit back a chuckle.

"It's Ratchet, and you should be in recharge so that your self-repair can work at its optimal efficiency."

"I-I will, I promise, but…I'm just a little worried that having someone come and take me home is the best idea…"

"Oh really? And why would that be?"

"For starters, no one in Dolhearac can fly as fast as I can. It could be a full orn before anyone gets here, and that's just me guessing we are where I think we are."

"Go on," Wheeljack urged, despite the dark look Ratchet gave him.

"And, see, even if they did manage to reach us without running into Decepticons, it'd be an equally slow journey back, and I'm a lot easier to detect when flying at a glider's pace…"

"Glider?" Ratchet and Wheeljack shared a glance, "So they do fly?"

"See? I told you I've seen shadows!" the scientist waved his arms excitedly before nearly jumping next to Kitetail's berth, "I even saw one just a couple orns ago fly past the window of my lab!"

"I thought you were ordered to put protective plating over the windows?" Ratchet questioned suspiciously.

"Well nobody ever said the plating couldn't be see-through," was the haughty response, "I don't mean to pry, young femme, but would you mind telling me a bit about them? I've been hearing the stories ever since I was your age, but I've never actually seen one, and I've always wondered what the culture is like there too!"

Kitetails grinned, always happier to talk than recharge as Ratchet had suggested she should, "I can certainly try! What exactly have you heard?"

"Oh you know, just the old myth," at this Wheeljack got into a dramatic pose as Ratchet rolled his optics in exasperation.  
_"Deathly shadows in the sky  
Far beyond whoever spy  
We will glide and we will fly  
Disappearing way up high_

_Remember always what's been taught  
Of the assassins and their thought  
What isn't there, cannot be caught  
Disappearing though they're sought"_

The scientist took a bow as Kitetails clapped enthusiastically, "I had no idea that proverb was circulated anywhere outside of Dolhearac!"

"You mean this started there?" Wheeljack quipped curiously and then laughed, "I always thought it was just a regular poem!"

She shook her helm, "Nope! They make you learn it when you're little there. It's one of the first things they teach you! I think the last stanza goes something like:  
_Recall to where Valkyrie takes flight  
Out of mind is out of sight  
Ever guided by the light  
Disappearing in the night"_

The scientist trilled happily, "It's a lovely proverb."

"You think so?"

"Most certainly," he nodded, shutting his optics off thoughtfully, "Makes you wonder what inspired it…."

She chuckled, "Kinda. They don't teach you that. In any case, though, it's kinda like Dolhearac's pledge of allegiance."

"Huh, so are they a loyal lot, then?"

Ratchet sighed, "I don't know if it's loyalty so much as it is fear…"

Kitetails frowned innocently at him, "Fear? Of what?"

He gave her a pointed look, "War."

-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-

The battle was vicious, as "scuffles" with the Decepticons often were.

'_And Seekers are the worst'_ Elita-One thought bitterly to herself as she ducked under a dilapidated building in hopes of finding shelter from the weapon's fire that rained relentlessly from above, Moonracer and Chromia right on her heel struts.

The three of them had split off from the main section of the Autobot forces in the hopes of sneaking around the enemy line and from there creating the illusion that the Decepticons were surrounded, and then relying on Megatron's paranoia that the illusion was true. Unfortunately they were discovered, by Starscream's Trine no less, and as soon as there was a moment's peace, Elita knew she would have to radio for some kind of back-up. Her femmes were marvelous fighters, and Moonracer may have been the best sniper she had ever had under her command, but shooting flyers was _considerably _more difficult than trying to aim at bots that stayed on a level playing field.

Finding a brief moment of reprise at last, Elita-One checked the damage to her small number. Chromia was cursing up a super nova as she nursed her half-melted canon courtesy of a poorly timed null-ray shot, whilst Moonracer searched for a crevice through which she would aim, doing her best to make it appear that her wounded thigh wasn't causing her the least bit of discomfort. Satisfied that neither femme was looking ready to fall offline in the next few klicks, the femme commander sent a quick report on her status.

_"Hm, that is troubling,"_ Prowl hummed, _"Unfortunately I cannot promise you immediate back-up. We have our servos-full here as well, and so assistance will have to come from those still stationed at our base. How long do you think you can hold out?"_

_"In our current position, not much longer_," Elita twitched as a seeker roared by over head, _"However, I believe I can manage to get my femmes halfway if our support can rendezvous in time."_

_"I will arrange for that immediately," _Prowl finished sharply and then added almost as an afterthought, _"Be careful Elita."_

"They just _love _to taunt us, don't they…" Chromia growled as their audios were deafened by the close passing of jet engines once again. The femme commander wasn't paying any attention as she looked about their poor excuse for a refuge. It wouldn't be long now before the seekers grew tired of their games and came after them again.

Moonracer had given up at finding as safe place to snipe from, and was now starting to pace around the room, a peculiar habit she seemed to have picked up from cross-training with medics. Her expression was unusually pensive as she waited for one of her superiors to think of something, and in doing so still felt forced to leave her wounded leg alone. Elita had other ideas.

"Stop the energon flow, at least. There's not much time, but you're going to need all the energy still in your frame if we're going to run," she informed the young femme in the most placid tone she could muster. Moonracer nodded a little too quickly and set herself onto the ground to fix the leaky lines.

"Run?" Chromia grimaced, "Do we have to?"

"Would you like to say good-bye to what's left of your weaponry?" Elita-One quirked an optic ridge. Her second-in-command pouted, but shook her helm no, "Then we're running."

The blue femme snorted rudely, "I just think that sounds like a cowardly approach to our situation is all…"

"Do you have a better suggestion?"

"….I would if they'd let me think. It's too loud in here!" Chromia shouted at the ceiling as though the no doubt circling seekers could hear her.

The pastel pink femme commander felt her lips twitch up in an amused smirk, "Then how about we think of it as disappearing instead?"

-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-

Kitetails had never had to explain so much of Dolhearan culture to _anyone_ before that she could remember. But then again, _everyone_ she had ever met until just an orn ago was from there! And Wheeljack, being a scientist, had a lot more questions that she would have expected. Just the same, the young seekeress was always happier to talk to someone than she was to recharge even if it was for her health as Ratchet had reminded both of them multiple times. By now, however, the CMO had finished his work on Skydive's injuries and had disappeared into his office where he didn't have to listen to all this talk of a group of Cybertronians he didn't even care that much about.

"So Dolhearac is kinda the opposite of most Cybertronian provinces in that it virtually all leadership positions are run by females. Interesting…" Wheeljack mused as he stared off into space.

Kitetails nodded in affirmation, having long since found a comfortable upright position to sit in so that she could talk and gesture more comfortably, "All of the military and most of the political positions belong to femmes. Magistrate Symmetry made sure of it," she grinned, "A friend of mine said 'think of it as feminism on rocket fuel'."

The scientist chuckled as she continued in a more serious tone, "Actually, Powderain…er, my mentor says it's more like reverse sexism. Magistrate Symmetry is as extreme as they come, and it's kinda at a point where you won't find a single mech living within the capital sector. Her subordinates are mostly more conservative about the whole thing. If it weren't for Military Overseer Wisp, we probably wouldn't have any mechs in our armed forces either."

"Sounds intense," Wheeljack buzzed, "And the people are ok with this?"

"Powderain told me Dolhearac's ratio of femmes to mechs is abnormally high compared to most provinces. So as far as I know, it doesn't bother anybody who's directly affected by Magistrate's rule. Most of the mechs that live there came to give their families a safe place to live. Even if that happens to be right on the border, far away from Magistrate's idealism."

"Hence why you take border protection so seriously."

"Pretty much."

"So then, what's the military itself like? Other than consisting mostly of glider femmes? I'm not asking you to tell me anything I shouldn't know, I'm just wondering."

"Well…" she hummed thoughtfully, "Most of the army is good at special operations-type stuff through lots of training. Especially when it comes to sneaking around and sniping. And then if you _really _want to rise in the ranks, they encourage you to be a show-off with gun-work."

-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-

"What in Primus name?" Thundercracker all but yelped as the building their targets were hiding in exploded with sudden force, nearly catching him up in the blaze.

Starscream huffed, whether from amusement or disgust was unknown, "Those cowardly fools must have realized they didn't stand a chance against us, and so they went and took their own lives. Pathetic."

Curious and unsuspecting, the three Seekers ventured down to ground level to better survey the damage, and to ensure the femmes really were offline as they should be. There was nothing much to see at first, save for the ominous scorched crater in the center of the room, but that was the problem. There weren't any deactivated frames lying about either.

"Maybe the blast shot them clear into the air, and their frames just haven't come down yet?" Skywarp suggested with a grin, to which his Trine mates gave him a look.

A vehicle engine revved to life and then sped off into the distance, the Seekers turning to look just barely as a teal frame sped out of sight. Before any action could be taken to follow, two others nearly crashed into them before peeling away in almost opposite directions. Starscream cursed loudly and again took to the air as he shouted his orders.

"They've split up! Pick a target and follow, but Elita-One is mine!" he growled, transforming and speeding after the pink femme.

The femme commander knew she wouldn't be able to hear the Seeker when he, whoever he was, came up behind her, they would be going much too fast until they caught up. And even then, she knew she must keep her focus on the terrain ahead of her, finding places she could drive that would provide shelter while at the same time not threaten to cut her off in a dead end. Her layout maps of Tetrahex were outdated, but seeing as the city had been in ruins for so long, she felt she could trust it enough. And so the race was on.

A missile collided with the ground behind her, scattering debris over her frame, but Elita refused to turn her sensors behind her. If anything she was even more focused on the road ahead than before. There was still enough temporary shelter in this portion of Tetrahex that she had little to worry about. For now…

The race seemed to last barely a few klicks, even though Elita knew she had driven almost halfway across Tetrahex and was finally in the last stretch. Already she could make out sensors of the fast approaching Aerialbots that had been sent to assist them in their getaway. Unfortunately all that remained between her and their rendezvous was a long, straight stretch of unprotected road. Common logic dictated she wouldn't make it before the Seeker finally caught up to her.

Of course, that didn't mean she was just going to give up.

Pulling her engine to the brink of its capabilities she finally shifted her sensors to monitor the flying craft behind her. The Seeker, Starscream she had long since deduced, was pulling back a ways so that he could properly line up his shot, and that was exactly what Elita-One was counting on. She listened not even bothering to switch her radar on, until the pitch of his engines told her that he was in _exactly _the right position.

Without warning, Elita braked as hard as she could, spinning her back wheels to whip her around and face her opponent as she transformed into her bipedal form, rifle in hand. Without even having to take a klick to aim she fired two perfect shots that grazed either side of Starscream's helm and burned their way into his shoulder plating. The seeker squawked, the shots proximity to his helm causing major interference to his sensors and eventually resulting in him losing his aerial balance and crashing dangerously close to the pink femme as she transformed once more and sped off towards the rendezvous point where her subordinates had already gathered and joined forces with the Aerialbots in taking on the remaining two Seekers.

-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-

"I don't suppose," Wheeljack began hesitantly after he and Kitetails had finished discussing what she could of Dolhearan culture, "It would be possible that if, say, Dolhearac ever aligned with the Autobot cause, they would be willing to train with my Aerialbots?"

She pursed her lips thoughtfully, "I….doubt it...They _hate _other flyers and the only reason they don't completely despise me is that I grew up there and so they think I've been _'properly raised'_ or something like that."

"Oh, well that's too bad," Wheeljack sighed, "But I guess I can understand it. I know most of the Aerialbots aren't too fond of Seekers either, so I can see them not getting along with Dolhearan flyers much."

Kitetails giggled, "Are we Seekers really that bad?"

"Oh you have _no _idea," Wheeljack huffed and then quickly added, "Ah…no offense…"

The fledgling seekeress just shrugged nonchalantly, "Don't worry about it, I've heard worse. And the way I see it, if pretty much _everyone_ in Dolhearac doesn't like them, then most Seekers must be really terrible!"

-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-

"I simply cannot _stand_ Seekers," Elita-One huffed, looking over her dented frame as the three femmes took a quick break now that the Decepticon Seekers had been taken care of for the time being. Airaid landed nearby her and smirked.

"_Well _I didn't know we had so much in common!"

She flickered her optics at him once before she returned his look with a more dignified smile of her own, "I assure you, Airaid, we have much more _'in common'_ than you realize."

"Really?" Fireflight perked up from where Moonracer was doing some field repairs on his arm. The teal femme's face split into a mischievous grin.

"Oh yes! Did you know the commander wishes she could fly too?" she giggled.

"Moonracer!" Elita-One scolded sharply, but only received another burst of bubbly laughter in response.

"You know," Chromia smirked, deciding that in this instance it was more fun to torment her friend than stand up for her, "I think you'd make a pretty good Aerialbot, Elita. If you weren't so skinny that is…"

Elita-One frowned at all of them as a few of the Aerialbots attempted to stifle their chuckles simply out of respect for the femme commander. But despite her annoyed visage, there was a peculiar warm glow in her optics as she watched them preparing to take off for the Autobot base once more. Something was odd though.

"One of you is missing….Skydive?" she looked around again, making certain she had missed him by accident. The Aerialbot's expressions became somber.

"He was shot down by Decepticons about almost an orn ago, and is now recovering," Silverbolt reported.

"Airaid would be too if it weren't for Kitetails," Fireflight added.

Slingshot gave his younger teammate an incredulous look, "And how's that?"

"Well if she hadn't been there, there wouldn't have been three targets for them to shoot at. And the 'Cons fired two shots so…"

Elita-One's frown deepened, "Kitetails?"

_'It sounds…familiar…'_

Fireflight nodded, "She's a little Seeker fledgling we met the other day. Hails from Dolhearac."

"Wheeljack says she'll be well enough for us to fly her home tomorrow," Airaid went on.

_'It…can't….be….'_


	5. Chapter 4:  Orn 4      part 1

Disclaimer: Nothing but the plot, OCs and Dolhearac are mine.

Frog: Wow, spring term already XP And I still haven't updated TCB either... Must get to working on that again.

I won't say much for now, just two little notes: 1) Orn 4 is split into two parts because if I tried to do it all at once it could potentially be more than twice as long as it is now, and I wouldn't want anyone to get lost. Which leads to number 2) a LOT is going to happen this chapter. Some big plot stuffers are going on now for you to see. I realize a few might be something of a shock, that's my intention, but I also realize that I failed to so much as hint at them earlier. I just hope it doesn't confuse anyone.

-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-

**Orn 4-part 1**

"You. What?" Ratchet hissed darkly as he glowered at each of the newly returned, and badly damaged, femmes in turn before finally fixing his dreadful gaze on Elita-One.

Elita was not afraid of Ratchet. She refused to bend to his anger in terror like everyone, including Optimus, were wont to do. She hadn't gotten where she was today by fearing mechs just because they had a temper, excellent aim, and the knowledge of how to pick your insides apart in the most painful way possible. Nope, Elita-One wasn't intimidated by Ratchet, not one bit.

...Under most circumstances.

This orn, however, was a special occasion. It was the first time in all the vorns she had known Ratchet, that she was being accused of doing something the medic considered _stupid_. And for the first time in her not-so-young-life, she was subject of the full brunt of the CMO's fury. And all of a sudden, she found she had more than a shred of sympathy for her spark mate and maybe a smidgen of regret for the times she had chastised him for breaking under the medic's condescending glare.

Still, she couldn't let her reluctantly admitted intimidation show, and so she calmly reiterated, "We set a charge off in the middle of the building and took shelter in a hidden basement floor."

"And what would have happened, do you suppose, if the ceiling of that basement had fallen on top of you, hm?"

"Well the Seekers would certainly have had a hard time finding us then, wouldn't they," Elita sniffed, leaning ever-so-slightly away from the simmering medic.

"And so would your rescue party," Ratchet grumbled, but his voice was steadily rising, "Now perhaps I'm not being clear enough to you, Elita, but you _do _realize you were a mere few percents away from getting your team killed?"

She flinched. Slag it, she actually flinched! And that sentence hadn't even been long enough for him to get to a yelling pitch!

At this point, she had two options. One was to stand up for herself. That's what she would normally do when facing such accusations, and she was sure she had a valid enough argument to do so. However, this had _never _worked for anyone else when it came to Ratchet's interrogations, and so why should she be any different? Option two was to suck up her pride and admit to what the CMO saw as a mistake on her part. This route sounded much more promising, but she was just too stubborn to go with it fully.

"I apologize," she tilted her helm down and shut off her optics, "I was desperate, with little time to think clearly."

Ratchet snorted, "Well obviously!"

The CMO sighed and rubbed his faceplates as he went on, "This is not the brand of idiocy I expect from you Elita. Are you sure it wasn't Chromia's idea?"

On another medical table, the aforementioned blue femme's amused smirk flipped into a glare, "I am _not _my sparkmate, Ratchet. Don't accuse me of behaving as such!"

He gave her an incredulous glance, "Well I suppose I can admit you aren't _quite _as much of a nuisance to the health of yourself and those around you as he is."

"It wasn't her, idea, Ratchet. I take full responsibility for what happened," Elita-One cut in as Chromia's optic twitched.

"It walks!" Wheeljack crowed from the doorway to one of the recovery rooms, gesturing dramatically as a smallish Seeker femme stepped carefully into the med-bay. Ratchet sighed in exasperation.

"If an Aerialbot can walk, then I'm sure it should come as no surprise that a Seeker can too," he commented dryly.

"Kitetails, I presume?" Elita-One queried softly, directing a small smile at the fledgling Seekeress.

The tired femme perked up at hearing her name, wings twitching curiously as she smiled, "Yep, that's me!"

Wheeljack chuckled, setting a hand on Kitetails' shoulder plate, "You're getting awfully popular around here, aren't you? Even Femme Commander Elita-One knows your name!"

Her orange optics widened, "Elita-One? _The _Elita-One?" she bounced slightly on her thrusters before quickly sobering into a polite salute, "I-it's an honor to meet you, miss. Lots of femmes in Dolhearac look up to you!"

Elita felt her smile grow, "Well I'm truly honored. You will have to give your friends my regards."

"You know I've _always _wanted to visit Dolhearac," Moonracer swooned, "Just to see what it's like you know? A culture so blocked off from the rest of Cybertron sounds so interesting, and I don't think there are any other Cybertronian societies that are so matriarchal in their principles."

"How do you know all this?" Ratchet asked skeptically, having already decided to save his lecturing for when there weren't so many distractions and innocent young audios around.

Moonracer just shrugged, "I met a couple femmes a few vorns back that came from the Dolhearan province. I guess they were just tired of sitting around, hiding from the war and left so they could do something about it."

"Well good for them," Ratchet muttered as he set a welding torch to a slice in Elita's arm, "It's good to know that at least _somebots _in that place have initiative."

"You can't blame them for wanting to protect their people Ratchet," the pink femme commander reminded softly.

He grunted in acknowledgement, "Perhaps not. But one of these orns, it's not going to be enough, I can guarantee it."

Kitetails squirmed, "Do we _have _to talk about this again?"

Ratchet sighed quietly, "No, I suppose talking about doesn't do us much good, now does it," he turned to Wheeljack, "Well she's obviously well enough to make the trip back now. Shouldn't you two be doing something other than distracting me and my patients?"

"Yeah, yeah," the scientist waved his hands placating, "We know when we're not wanting, don't we Kite?"

The Seekeress gave Ratchet a mock-pout as she nodded solemnly and the two of them made their way towards the door. Elita-One moved to follow them, when the CMO froze her with a glare.

"And where do you think you're going?"

"I just want to see them off…" she muttered distractedly, "I won't be gone long."

"I haven't' even finished repairing you yet, do you _really _think I'm going to let you just waltz out of my med-bay?" Ratchet raised an optic ridge at her skeptically.

Elita-One thought for a moment, "Are you low on any supplies, Ratchet?"

His gaze narrowed, "Are you trying to bribe me, Elita?"

She just smiled innocently at him as Chromia nearly fell off her medical berth in a sudden bout of howling laughter. Ratchet studied her closely for a moment before determining that it wasn't a trick and sighing heavily.

"Very well. But if you aren't back within seven klicks of their take-off, you won't live to regret it!"

-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-

Something was decidedly….off this orn.

Airaid couldn't pinpoint what exactly, but there was a sense of anxiety fluttering over his spark that only increased as the klicks went by. In fact….it almost felt as though this worrisome feeling wasn't even his own.

Not that this was anything new to him, he often felt aware of blips of emotion that he was pretty sure weren't his own. It had been that way ever since he could remember. He had mentioned it to Wheeljack once, and learned that it was likely the young flier still had family somewhere out there, and he was feeling the energies of their sparks contacting his. And while this did explain his predicament, it didn't explain why, try as he might, he was unable to respond back to the pulses of energy they sent him.

Airaid had often wondered about his creators. After all, one could presume they were the ones who abandoned him at Wheeljack's door. In fact, it was that act of leaving him behind that Wheeljack had also explained (when he was older) was the reason he couldn't remember them. The processors of a youngling are preprogrammed to avert traumatic experiences, and take steps to help said youngling cope when faced with unnaturally stressful conditions. In Airaid's case, these protocols had been activated by his abandonment and subsequent withdrawal of the loving energy of his creators, and put a lock on his mem. banks within orns afterwards.

When asked if the locks could ever be reversed, Wheeljack had solemnly answered that by now it was probably too late. Those younglinghood memories were as good as gone, even if he was reunited with his creators.

"You ok, Airaid?"

He glanced up to see Fireflight frowning worriedly at him. He gave a small snort and turned towards the bay doors, "I'm fine. Just getting tired of waiting…"

"Yeah, me too," the younger flier sighed, tilting his helm skyward longingly. If there was one thing an Aerialbot hated, it was waiting, especially if they knew they were meant to be airborne. Wheeljack knew this, he just tended to get carried away and forget.

"Hey Airaid?"

"Hm?"

"How do you suppose a seekerling wound up in Dolhearac in the first place?"

Airaid shrugged, "They were probably just found abandoned somewhere. Why?"

Fireflight crossed his arms pensively, "But aren't Seekers kind of overprotective? It doesn't make much sense."

The older Aerialbot paused thoughtfully, briefly calling up some schematics of the area, "There's supposedly an old Seeker Spire near the Southern tip of Dolhearac, but according to our intel. it was deserted at the early onset of the war. She's old enough to have been created at that time. My guess is she got left behind in their haste to get out of there."

"Then where did they go?"

"Nobody knows. Probably Decepticons now."

Fireflight looked at his companion thoughtfully for a moment, "You two have a lot in common I guess, huh?"

Airaid quirked an optic ridge, "What the slag is that supposed to mean?"

His wingmate just grinned, "You're secret's out, Airaid! All of us know that you were adopted by Wheeljack! Who knows, maybe you came from the same place!"

"Interesting theory, Fireflight, but not likely," a familiar voice chuckled, causing the too Aerialbots to turn sharply. Wheeljack's head fins flashed in greeting before he elaborated, "Seekers are sparked Seekers and they stay Seekers all their life. It'd be nigh impossible to take a highly specialized flying machine like a Seeker, even a little one, and turn it into the little ground-bound bot I found when I found Airaid here. You can put a flightless bot in the air, but you can't just cut off a Seeker's wings and expect them to act like they never had them."

"Aw well," Fireflight rubbed his shoulder plating sheepishly, "I tried. Guess you and Kitetail's aren't long lost siblings after all."

The comment was met with a few light chuckles, even from Airaid himself. However he stopped when he saw Elita-One standing there, a pensive frown on her features as she gazed out over the remains of Tetrahex. For a brief moment the strange flitting of emotions over his spark intensified, but he promptly shrugged it off as coincidence.

"Elita-One!" Fireflight half-yelped, "I didn't see you there. Shouldn't you be in the med-bay?"

The Femme Commander tilted her helm back towards them and smiled, "Don't worry about me, I'll be back to the Pit soon enough," she paused thoughtfully and then began retrieving items from her subspace, "Actually, I wanted to give you both something in hopes that it might grant you safe travel. I doubt you'll need them, or at least I hope you won't, but just in case."

The two Aerialbots curiously took the small devices she offered to them, as Wheeljack and Kitetails inched closer to see if they could get a better look.

"Cloaking devices?" the inventor looked at her oddly, "Why would they need those?"

"You can make them this small? Why _don't _we have these already?" Fireflight chirped as he turned the item over in his hands.

"These are only temporary cloaks. Their power source won't even last a joor before they become obsolete," Elita explained solemnly, "But if worse come to worse, it will buy you just enough time to get out of any immediate dangers you may face."

Kitetails started fidgeting, "You don't really think—"

"I don't mean to offend you young one. I'm just taking into consideration that while Dolhearac may not be our enemy, they aren't our friends either." She paused, looking like she wanted to say more, but thinking better of it, "I wish you all a safe trip. Kitetails, please give Magistrate Symmetry my best wishes as well as apologies that we had to keep you for so long."

"Optimus already wrote a letter saying the same thing," Fireflight piped up, "Speaking of which, I guess we should give it to Kite, now, huh. So that we don't forget or anything."

He procured a data pad from his subspace as he muttered the last part quietly and gave it to the aforementioned seekeress. Wheeljack looked them all over one last time to make sure they were in proper flying condition and finally they were ready to take off. The rush of thrusters as they kicked on power hummed through the two ground-bound Autobots' systems as the three of them took off into the air and did a few experimental maneuvers. Satisfied, the three jetted off towards Tetrahex and quickly disappeared from site. Elita-One stared after them long after they had gone.

"You know, Elita, I've been meaning to talk to you about something," Wheeljack mused, jolting the Femme Commander from whatever thoughts had been brewing in her processors. She absently followed his retreating voice back inside, not really caring that she would be late for her appointed time to be back in the med-bay in a matter of about two klicks.

She looked at him expectantly, prompting the scientist to continue, "Well, I've noticed that ever sense the Aerialbots were stationed here, you've taken great interest in their well-being and success, so I guess first I'd just like to thank you for your support."

She allowed a small smile, "The Aerialbots are a great asset to us. They're the first Cybertronians in a long time with any flying capability that can rival that of the Seekers."

"Yeah but you just already seem to know so much of what they need! I mean, it was _you _after all that insisted that they be given the open air training arena they have now, as well as living quarters that won't make them claustrophobic," at this he paused, his head fins flickering, "I hadn't even had the chance to bring up those issues in a meeting yet, and, well, most bots have trouble reading my research notes. So I guess…I was just wondering where you learned all that stuff."

Elita-One lowered her optics contemplatively as her processors searched frantically for an answer that would satisfy the curious scientist. She absent-mindedly wrapped one of her arms around her waist and rubbed at a spot above her hip. A spot that still ached every time she touched it, even after so many vorns had passed.

"I thought it sounded like common sense," she spoke slowly, running each word through her processors. It must have sounded unnatural, because Wheeljack was already looking skeptical, "I've put many a Decepticon Seeker in our brigs before, and the enclosed space drives them mad. I thought it plausible that the Aerialbots would, being of a similar function, suffer in the same way if forced into the small quarters most of our soldiers have to put up with, and didn't want to put them under unnecessary stress."

Wheeljack stopped walking and so Elita did as well out of courtesy for their conversation. The scientist rubbed his chin thoughtfully, his optics studying hers with an intensity that started to make her twitch with discomfort. In the back of her processor, a darkly humorous side of her was musing that she had been the subject of two brand new experiences today: what is was like to be the object of Ratchet's unholy wrath, and what it was like to be some strange scientific anomaly. Though she supposed Ratchet was decidedly more unpleasant if only for the mere fact that she _knew _Wheeljack wasn't about to pick her apart piece by piece to find the solution to the problem. After what seemed like an joor of silent the inventor finally shut his abnormally piercing optics off and hummed contemplatively.

"If I may be very blunt with you, ma'am," and this time he didn't wait for any sorts of permission to continue, "I have observed that you tend to be more easily agitated in enclosed spaces yourself. You're always so much snippier when you're in, say, a boxy meeting room, even when we're not discussing anything of real importance." At this point he looked back at her pointedly, "So I guess my real question is; do you understand the Aerialbots plight because you suffer from a similar weakness?"

Her optics narrowed, "What exactly are you implying?"

Wheeljack backed up several paces mentally at her tone and put his hands up placatingly, and using that oh-so-endearing tone of voice that could get him out of trouble with just about anyone but Ratchet, "Just that you're a closet claustrophobe."

Her expression changed only in the fact that she quirked an optic ridge, but as she spoke he noted that the bitterness had dissipated from her vocalizer, "You do realize that's an oxy-moron, don't you?"

The conversation didn't get any further than that as an emergency com. frequency blasted through her processor. Her optics widened impressively and then the left one began to twitch, eliciting a sharp cackle from Wheeljack. He had witnessed similar shell-shocked expressions the first few times a mech or femme became the victim of one of the CMO's angry-medical-jargon-laced-threats-of-deactivation that hardly anyone understood, but all agreed sounded like it would be an unpleasant experience if he were to act on said threats. The inventor watched her a little longer before amusement gave way to the sort of pity one felt when watching sparkling reaches and reaches for something but it _just _too short to reach it, and he gently took her arm and guided her back to the med-bay.

-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-

_"I just received word from Kitetails that she and her escort are on their way. They should reach the border in a little over a joor, circumstance permitting," _Powderain's normally friendly voice sounded uncomfortably professional. Not that the superior officer she was addressing cared to take any notice. The one femme that Powderain had to answer to directly was also the one femme that could send an anxious tremor through her spark.

Military Overseer Wisp, none but the Magistrate outranked her and her only equal worked for the civilian sector of the government. She seemed ideal for her position, as most of the populace and the army itself viewed her as a master of self-control and an expert at organizing military operations. But those who were under the direct scrutiny of her goldenrod optics knew that self-control gave way to a controlling disposition, and beneath her professional exterior slept a crackling temper. Her closest subordinates knew that she held fiercely to her grudges and some of the soldiers joked that her face-plates were incapable of twisting into a smile. If it weren't for Wisp's fierce loyalty to Dolhearac, Powderain would have questioned the reasoning behind her holding all the power she did, and to Wisp's credit, she had never crossed her emotional baggage with her work.

Unless said emotional baggage didn't just belong to her, but the Magistrate as well.

_"Can you confirm who is accompanying her?"_

_"Yes. Two Aerialbots, both of a lower ranking according to our files. One of them is the…target."_

Wisp relaxed her shoulders marginally, _"Very good, Powderain. If you would inform the fledgling of the Magistrate's invitation to her escort, it would be most appreciated."_

_"Yes ma'am."_

Wisp lowered her hand from her com. system, returning her full attention to the surrounding room. What the Dolhearan Magistrate's office lacked in floor space, it more than made up for in its high, translucent ceiling that allowed the soft glow of Cybertronian "daylight" to filter through the crystal-lined walls, refracting and magnifying the light waves until the room seemed to be lit by its own mysterious light. Magistrate Symmetry was sitting at the desk in front of her, pale yellow optics questioning and maybe even a little worried. She wasn't the most elegant example of the Dolhearan model, but she always carried herself in such a way that you would never notice. Her armor coverings were a deep burgundy with a golden sheen that caught and played with the light. She also had the highest set of heel struts Wisp had ever seen, something that had never ceased to bemuse the Military Overseer. Then again, Symmetry was not a femme who had seen battle for a very very long time.

Wisp gave her superior a sharp nod of acknowledgement, "Autobot Airaid is confirmed to be on his way to Dolhearac with Kitetails."

The report sent a visible wave of relief through the Magistrate's frame, and she rested her helm against her folded hands, "Finally…" she stiffened after a moment and looked up at her subordinate once more, "And what of Ariel? Do you think she will try to interfere?"

Wisp's pale lavender wings twitched at the mention of the rarely spoken name, "Not without arousing suspicion. It would seem to me that she's more concerned with keeping this whole ordeal under cloak. She won't meddle now that he's already on his way. Beyond that, I doubt she even realizes how much intel. we've collected on the matter."

Symmetry nodded solemnly, and allowed the silence to pass for several klicks until Wisp started to get antsy with holding still for so long. Eventually the Magistrate set her hands back down in her lap and sighed, "Why did it have to be this way? It wasn't supposed to be."

Wisp's twitching became more pronounced as she sensed where this was going, and she suddenly wished she could be anywhere but here. She didn't want to have to go through this again. She didn't want to have to remember what all had gone wrong, and she certainly didn't want to speculate the reasons "_why_"! Wisp had made her judgments on the matter long ago, but that didn't mean it didn't slice through her spark whenever she was forced to go through them again.

"Magistrate please—"

"I am her mother, what did I ever do to turn her against me like this?" Symmetry clutched her red-gold hands to her chassis as Wisp stood haplessly in front of her, "She had so much promise. She even could have been Dolhearac's _next_ Magistrate."

"Yes, it is most unfortunate," Wisp muttered awkwardly, having great difficulty keeping the bitterness out of her tone, "I trained by her side after all. It's really no surprise that she made Femme Commander of the Autobot forces."

Symmetry set her jaw as her optics narrowed at some speck on the wall, "That _mate _of hers on the other hand."

Wisp crossed her lightly colored arms, the tension slowly leaving her frame. Once again, she knew exactly where the conversation was headed, but this time it was a topic she could handle without battling emotions she couldn't hope to control.

"I taught her better than that, after all," Symmetry went on, her sorrow flipping right over to disgust and anger as she rose to her feet, "Her bondmate's notoriety overshadows her own accomplishments. Not to mention there's a high probability of him dying off in this pathetic war. I just don't understand why she would do that to herself. She used to be such a clever femme, she should know better!"

As usual, Wisp made no comment. She wasn't quite sure where Symmetry's borderline resentment of the other gender spec. originated from, she had simply learned to accept it. It was a hassle to their province in many ways, she would admit, especially since it caused most of the civilians to congregate around the border where they were at greater danger of being affected by the war outside. However, unlike many of the populace, she remembered that Symmetry could not be Magistrate forever and when she reached the age to retire (or, less favorable, was killed off) her ideals would go with her, and whoever took her place would most certainly rectify the reverse sexism that had been going on for so long.

Of course, a new Magistrate also brought other fears to the forefront of Wisp's processors as well, but there was little she could do about that for the time being.

Seeing that Symmetry had become silent and was now looking to her expectantly for some input into the previously one-sided conversation she quickly reset her vocalizer, "There is nothing that can be done for it, Magistrate. Ariel has made her choice, and, unless you intend to assassinate Optimus Prime, that is the way it will stay."

Symmetry hissed, "Don't be ridiculous. I would never wish such a tragedy on my only daughter's spark."

"Not to mention that would force us into the war we've been trying so hard to avoid," Wisp added quietly.

The Magistrate nodded wearily with a small sigh, slumping back down into her chair, "But are we running out of time, regardless? Just in the last few orns a medic near the border was botnapped while making a house call, two soldiers have been convicted of spying for the Decepticons, and another is under investigation for being an under-cover Autobot. Every joor it seems that more soldiers are missing from roll call, having left the province to join one of the warring factions, and now Kitetails was practically blown out of the sky….Times are changing, Wisp. Faster than we can keep up with them."

"And we will hold out for as long as is safe for us," Wisp stated, a slight edge coming to her voice.

Symmetry just gave her a weak smile, "I know. But…I think it's time our province began reevaluating our place in this war. I would suggest you start planning for it if you haven't already."

The pale femme was taken aback, and about to argue when the Magistrate raised a silencing hand, "You are dismissed, Wisp. And please see to it that our guests aren't mistakenly shot down on the way here. I don't want any more accidents."

-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-

They were doing a pretty good job, Airaid thought. He and Fireflight were paying attention to their surroundings for once, or at least that's what he assumed since as the younger Aerialbot had hardly spoken since they reached the halfway point of their journey. Kitetails was still talkative, but even that had taken on a more serious undertone as she asked them about their tracking systems and radar. Actually the fledgling had been completely silent for several klicks now.

So when she suddenly did a small loop accompanied by a delighted squeal, Airaid nearly fell out of the sky. His wing-mate fared slightly better in that he only squeaked in alarm and both of their targeting systems onlined.

"Guess what?" the fledgling trilled as Airaid quickly corrected his flight pattern.

"For sparks sake, Kitetails," he growled, "Don't do that!"

She slowed marginally, "Sorry…"

"You were saying?" Fireflight had quickly recovered from his alarm and already given into his usual curiosity.

"Well," The Seekeress bobbed a few times, "I just got a message from Powderain that the Magistrate wants me home straight-away, so you're both cleared to take me all the way to the capital-sector!"

"Really?" Fireflight chirped excitedly.

Airaid hummed thoughtfully, "Why would they need us to fly all the way there? I mean, once we get you to the border you should have no problem getting back to the capital sector, right?"

"I know," Kitetails giggled, "But that's what makes this so exciting! Powderain kind of sounded like Magistrate Symmetry would like to meet you both personally!"

Fireflight let out an almost youngling-like trill, "We should go! We wouldn't want to turn down an offer like _that_, after all!"

"Yeah," his wing-mate swerved around them in thought, "But we should probably ask Silverbolt first. Maybe Wheeljack too."

The younger Aerialbot snickered, "Well look at you being all responsible all of a sudden."

"Considering that I'm the only _adult_ out here, yeah, I have to be."

"Aww, but we're being good," Kitetails crooned, "We haven't been giving you _any trouble whatsoever_, have we Fireflight."

"Nope! We've been perfectly behaved the entire time. I haven't even gotten off course but maybe twice!"

"And good for you," Airaid muttered, "Look, Kitetails, we'd love to see you all the way home, but I need to check with some higher ups first, ok? You said the Magistrate wants to meet us? Well I don't know if you've noticed but Fireflight and I, while perfectly good soldiers, we aren't so swell at playing ambassador. I mean, if we were to mess up somehow, it could spell disaster for the current relationship between the Autobots and Dolhearac."

Fireflight flew a little closer, "I didn't think of that…"

"Well what are you waiting for then? We've only got a joor left before we get to the border, times-a-wastin'!" Kitetails sang, barely paying attention to whatever more serious topics her companions were trying to discuss.

"I'm on it. I'm on it," Airaid muttered, but didn't manage to completely hide his amusement, "Just give me a couple klicks and I'll have your answer."

-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-

One joor later:

"So far so good, Optimus," Wheeljack reported as he strolled casually into the Prime's office, "Just got another report from Airaid. They've crossed the border and so far nobody's tried to shoot them yet!"

The large red and blue mech looked up from his growing collection of data pads with relief in his optics, "I am glad to hear it. If this visit goes well, we may be well on our way to having some new allies."

"What new allies," Elita-One asked absently as she stepped in around Wheeljack.

Optimus sat up a little straighter and nodded politely to her, "Elita, I've been meaning to pay you a visit. How are your injuries?"

Wheeljack snickered to himself resulting in a sharp jab from the Femme Commander's elbow joint to his mid-section, "I'm fine. Ratchet did an excellent job, as always."

The Prime's optics lit almost knowingly, and she gave him a stern glare as she continued, "Now you were saying something about new allies?"

Wheeljack jumped on the question before Optimus had a chance to respond, "Airaid and Fireflight were invited to the capital-sector of Dolhearac! They're going to meet the Magistrate!"

Elita-One's systems hitched, and her optics brightened as she ran Wheeljack's proclamation inwards, outwards, reversed, and upside-down through her processors. The two mechs in the room shared a concerned glance at her unexpected reaction and Optimus wordlessly rose from his seat. He came to stand next to her and put a large hand on her shoulder, jolting her from her stupor. An uneasy if not questioning silence hung in the air that only served to stall Elita's processors further.

She knew they were waiting, however, and after trying her vocalizer a few times she finally gave some semblance of a response, "W-when was this decided?"

"About a joor ago," Wheeljack rubbed his neck cables nervously, "I-I'm sorry, Elita-One. I didn't realize you would want to be informed, but now that I think about it, it kinda makes sense. I mean, you are—"

"This is what I was afraid of…" the Femme Commander clenched and unclenched her fists at her sides. Optimus, who had been silent physically, but through their bond had been gently coaxing her.

He turned to the inventor, his tone quiet, "Wheeljack, if you would please excuse us. I think this is something that will be easier for Elita and I to discuss alone. I will tell you everything you need to know once we're done."

"Yes sir. Please do. I'd hate to see anything happen to the Aerialbots you know."

The two commanders nodded at him as he left and as the door swooshed shut, they were once again enveloped in silence. Optimus watched his mate in concern as she collected herself. Of course, despite the quiet, their bond was alive with emotions and thoughts that only sparkmates can share, and most of the needed information had already been passed in a sense. All that was left was to put words to it all.

"I'm sorry," she muttered finally, "I didn't want you to find out this way…"

Optimus rumbled, "I believe I already know where this is headed, but go on."

Elita slowly turned to face him, "It's Airaid. He's my….he's my younger brother. I evacuated him from Dolhearac vorns ago, but now it seems that it was all for nothing..."

-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-

The moment they crossed the Dolhearan border, the atmosphere changed. The three flyers could tell they were being watched, and closely. And the nearer they came to the capital-sector, the more tangible the feeling became. Airaid had been trying to ignore it, but it was starting to get hard to concentrate. He couldn't be sure how Fireflight was faring, but the younger Aerialbot didn't outwardly appear to be affected. He assumed Kitetails might be used to it, being the only Seeker in the area and all, she was bound to attract attention wherever she flew. Then again, judging by the younger flier's agitated flight pattern, maybe she wasn't.

"There it is!" the Seekeress squealed, bouncing a few times. Airaid had seen the lights before she had, so he had kind of been expecting it. Still, her breaking of the silence was enough to send a jolt through his systems.

"Yes. Thank you. For that," he muttered. He realized he probably sounded a little bitter, but he had been bombarded by emotional waves ever since they took off, and they had only been getting stronger and more frequent to the point he almost couldn't focus his sensors on flying straight.

Fireflight shrieked in delight and awe, "Would you look at that! I mean, it's not as impressive as Iacon's capital-sector, but it's still a sight, don't you think?"

Airaid sighed, "Yeah…"

The Dolhearan capital-sector rose gradually above the cityscape, peaking in a glossy dome that sent an aura of violet-white light into the thin Cybertronian atmosphere. Around it were nine domed spires arranged symmetrically by height, the tallest producing a faint light of its own. Kitetails banked gradually down towards the dome and the Aerialbots followed, one lost in his thoughts, the other lost in the view. In fact, Fireflight was so distracted by the foreign structures of a culture few outsiders had ever seen, he nearly missed their landing, and was forced to make a hasty transformation and skid to a halt on the wide, crescent landing station.

"So now what?" the younger Aerialbot quipped as he looked around at the small crowd of Dolhearan femmes that were now watching them with varying degrees of apprehension. One of the gathered spectators stepped forward with an answer.

"You come with me."

"Overseer Wisp!" Kitetails inclined her helm to the slender femme, "We ah…we got here safely."

"Ma'am," Airaid nodded, nudging the still distracted Fireflight with his arm as he sent a quick com. reminding the other Aerialbot that they needed to be on their best behavior.

"Oh!" Fireflight grinned sheepishly, finally drawing his attention back to the matter at hand, "Thanks for letting us visit. It's really nice here. Your architecture is awesome!"

Wisp appeared unimpressed, "You may thank the Magistrate when you meet with her. Now if you would all follow me—"

The Military Commander turned briskly back towards the dome as the three of them hurried to follow her. The other Dolhearans gave them a wide berth as they passed, some whispering amongst themselves, or giving the Aerialbots disgusted or anxious looks. Airaid was starting to wonder if this was really such a good idea after all.

The interior of the dome was wider than it looked from above, making the two Aerialbots feel as though they had just wondered into the mouth of a monster. A mental image that was only intensified by the opaque, tooth-shaped panels that lined the walls. And in the room's center, suspended seemingly by its own power, was a great glowing crystal that was sight enough to cause the foreigners to pause.

"They say Dolhearac's founder brought that here," Kitetails informed them softly, stopping next to them as she gazed up at the crystal in appreciation, "I guess it's an energon crystal or something, but it's too tainted by other stuff from the space rock it was found in to be good for anything but a decoration."

"It looks heavy…." Fireflight muttered, "How'd your founder carry it?"

The Seekeress giggled, "Can't say. I never met her."

"It has other uses," a new voice added fondly, "Our founder thought of everything when she built this shrine."

They turned to see a new femme walking towards them, and Wisp and Kitetails lowered their helms respectfully as they simultaneously muttered a soft greeting to their Magistrate. Symmetry finally arrived in front of them and smiled openly at the two Aerialbots, but her gaze was more directed at Airaid.

The young Aerialbot felt a strange sensation ripple through his spark as he stared at the elegant femme before him. It was similar to the ones he was used to feeling, but this one was stronger and strangely….welcoming. He tentatively tried to respond to the other essence that was contacting him, and was surprised and even alarmed when it went through. For the first time in a long long time, he was able to answer the other spark that now called to his. Symmetry's optics lit ever-so-slightly.

"Airaid is it? By the stars, just look at you," she murmured almost breathless as she relaxed her frame and bowed her helm, "Praise Primus and all that is good, my beloved son is home again!"

-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-

Frog: Now just in case anyone IS a little confuse, allow me to clarify that I never ever EVER specified the gender of Elita's younger sibling ;)

Also to note, I have only one, possibly two if need be, OCs to be introduced next chapter and more stuff will be revealed. For example, why DID Elita/Ariel feel the need to take Airaid from their mother? O_O I'm sure some of you can guess pretty close XD

Comments/questions/etc. are appreciated. Thanks for reading! Bye!


	6. Chapter 5:  Orn 4 part 2

Frog: Sorry for the wait. We have a new house so we've been moving pretty much ALL summer XD But now that school's about to start again, I have more time (sounds backwards I know, but it's true!).

I also apologize in advance for any spelling/grammar errors in this chapter. My sister won't have a chance to look at it until next week, and I didn't feel like waiting that long :P

-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-

_**Orn 4-Part 2**_

"Airaid?" Aiiiirrrraaaaiiiiidddd!"

The young Aerialbot jolted, targeting systems onlining with the rest of him and causing the hovering faces above him to back away.

His first coherent thought: _'Huh. So that's what fritzing out feels like.'_

The worried faceplates that he vaguely recognized as Fireflight again came closer, "You ok, Airaid?"

"Oh dear, I'm terribly sorry," another face murmured as a hand touched the side of his helm, "That was a bit sudden, wasn't it? Are you alright, young one?"

He flickered his optics in confusion as his mem. banks fought to catch up. He was in Dolhearac, which explained the strange winged bots that were gathering in a growing crowd around him. They had been bringing Kitetails home, and there she was, now home and staring at him with this quirky expression somewhere between smiling and fritzing out herself. Oh, and Symmetry was his—

His intakes hissed sharply as he jerked away from the burgundy femme kneeling next to him. She retrieved her hand, watching him quietly as his processors once again tried to absorb this newfound information.

His first instinct was to deny it, but the metered and uncomfortably reassuring pulses of energy brushing against his spark were undeniably coming from her. He didn't know how he knew it, he just did.

"Shall I take him to the med-bay, Magistrate?" Wisp murmured, scrutinizing Airaid's over-bright optics. Symmetry sighed, several attendants rushing to help her stand up.

"That would be for the best. I have other duties that need tending do, so if you would be so kind as to inform me when he returns to proper function?"

"Of course, Magistrate," Wisp bowed as Symmetry left quietly. "Alright, there's nothing left to see here," Wisp snapped as she noted the crowd was not dissipating. The femmes started and were hasty to dissolve back to their respective duties. Wisp's frown deepened, "Not you, Kitetails."

"Oh…" the fledgling giggled awkwardly, "Sorry…Ummm…Do you need some help getting him back?"

"No that's ok. I can, uh, do it," Fireflight interjected as he squatted next to his wing mate. Somehow he managed to get Airaid upright as the older Aerialbot once again regained coherent thought.

"Ugh…my processor…"

Fireflight tried hard not to laugh at his friend's expense, "Do you think Silverbolt's gonna believe this?"

Airaid scoffed weakly as he allowed himself to be supported out of the room behind Wisp, "No."

Kitetails' wings twitched anxiously as she trailed behind them, "You never told me to you knew the Magistrate…"

"That's because I don't!" Airaid snapped, now shrugging Fireflight off as he attempted to walk on his own, "And I don't really plan on changing that."

Wisp paused to view him critically. He crossed his arms with a defiant glare, "Go ahead and be offended! She's not my mother, she gave me up!"

The Dolhearan's shoulders slumped in a silent sigh, "No, she did not. You were stolen."

His wings drooped, "Stolen?"

"You mean he was kidnapped? Why? Who?" Fireflight chirruped with brightened optics.

She waved her hand dismissively, "That isn't important right now. You are home now."

"Home?" Airaid repeated uneasily, coming to a stop.

"Well you were built Dolhearan," Wisp explained.

"I—I was?"

"Of course."

"In fact we still got the base model for your final frame if you wanna take a look!"

Airaid jumped in alarm at the new voice that was so much louder than everyone else he had met here thus far. Turning sharply he was faced with a most unexpected speaker.

It was another femme, that wasn't really a surprise, but she wasn't Dolhearan. She didn't even have wings! Her posture was relaxed and she wore an open grin that was in stark contrast to the guarded, stiff expressions of the Dolhearans he had met so far. Her purple and white paintjob glistened in the bright med-bay lights behind her as a yellow optics flashed kindly.

She smirked, "Click-click! So this is our little long-lost prince, eh?"

Kitetails giggled, finally becoming more relaxed, "Something like that. Oh…Airaid, Fireflight, this is Plasmadrop. She's our weapon's specialist."

"And also a pretty slaggin' good EMT if I do say so myself," Plasmadrop purred, "Hey Wisp, you really gotta do something about the short-staffing of this med-bay. I've got better things to do than save lives!"

Wisp glowered at her, causing the other femme to cower with a sheepish grin, "Just making an observation, your Overseerness. Though, now that I'm actually, you know, _thinking_ about it, the med-bay isn't even under your authority is it? My bad! Forget I said anything, click-click!"

Kitetails suddenly frowned and stepped forward, "How busy are they?"

Plasmadrop allowed a serious frown, "Two patrols went down in two completely different territories. Most likely 'Cons using them as target practice. Powderain didn't want to impose military personnel on a civilian med-bay given the damage, so here they are."

Airaid felt his optics narrow, "Does this happen very often?"

"That is none of your concern," Wisp snipped. The Aerialbot knew he should have backed off, but there was just something about Wisp's attitude that made it too difficult.

"Didn't you just get through saying I used to be a Dolhearan too?" he huffed, "And your Magistrate's _son_? I think I've got a right to be concerned about—"

His vocalizer died out before he could say "my people". The mere thought of it set his systems abuzz in the most disconcerting way. He may have been one of them when he was too little to remember, but they were no longer his. The Aerialbots and Wheeljack were all the family he would ever need. He couldn't even decide if he was glad to know where he had come from!

Wisp appeared a little off-balance at his proclamation, and struggled to speak with some kind of dignity, "I apologize, _sir_. If you would like me to explain…then I shall." She folded her hands neatly above her waist, helm lowered as though speaking to the Magistrate herself, "On average, our people are directly victimized by the war every few orns. _However _it isn't _solely_ the work of the Decepticons."

Airaid flinched but stood his ground, "Well if you would just pick the Autobots side already, maybe we could help protect you guys!"

Wisp's wings twitched in what Airaid could only guess was an aggressive manner before Plasmadrop stepped in between them, "Soooo, what did you guys need with the med-bay again?"

"Umm, well…" Kitetails looked Airaid over curiously, "What do you say, sir. Would you like the medics to have a look at you? You seem to be feeling fine now, but it couldn't hurt, could it?"

"Sir?" Fireflight repeated quizzically, "I don't' have to call him that, do I?"

"No," Airaid answered a bit too quickly, "And I don't need to see a medic. I feel fine!"

"Are you certain?" Wisp quirked an optic ridge, "You don't strike me as the type to fritz very often, you may have incurred some damage."

"I'm telling you nothing's wrong! I just…" he rubbed at the platting on his forearms uneasily, "Just get Fireflight and I some fuel so we can be on our way. Our team is going to start wondering where we are."

The three femmes shared a glance, and Airaid knew exactly what Wisp was going to say before she even onlined her vocalizer, "I'm afraid that isn't possible at the moment."

He growled, fists clenched, "Of _course_ it's not…"

"I-I'm sure you can go home soon," Kitetails assured, "But Magistrate Symmetry hasn't seen you in so long! Don't you want to get to know your creator a little more?"

"No, I don't! In fact, I don't care if I ever see that over-polished piece of cowardly slag-metal again!"

Seeing the fledgling shrink away from him in fright, Airaid struggled to reign himself in, turning away from the seekeress with a snarl, "We never shoulda come all the way out here…"

"I think you should see a medic," Fireflight put in softly, "Not to say there's anything wrong with you, I just think the rest would do you good."

After a lengthy pause, Airaid begrudgingly agreed, and he and his wing-mate were taken to a private recovery room. The medics ran their scans and then left the two of them to rest. Fireflight didn't try to talk, he knew this was something Airaid was going to have to figure out himself. Still, it was difficult for the younger Aerialbot to keep still, especially once his wing-mate entered his recharge cycle. So, making sure he left a quick note in the event Airaid woke before his return, Fireflight went back out in the med-bay. The medics gave the impression that he was not welcome in their work-place so he went out in the empty hallway.

"Shouldn't you be resting, Fireflight?"

The Aerialbot jumped looking to see Kitetails crouched by the wall. He absently wondered if she had been here since they first admitted him and Airaid into the med-bay.

"Too much to think about, not enough audios to hear," he muttered.

Kitetails smiled, but it didn't reach her optics, "I know what you mean…"

"Do you think….they'll let 'Raid come home?"

"No idea. I'd think so but…the Magistrate doesn't always listen to mechs very well. Even if it _is_ her own son."

"Great…"Fireflight slumped to the floor next to her, "How am I ever going to explain this one to Silverbolt?"

"Sorry I got you guys into trouble again," Kitetails admitted quietly.

"I don't think this is your fault. I don't think it's really something you can blame on anyone," Fireflight looked down at the younger Cybertronian with a smile, "Do you think I could look around?"

She returned the smile and stood up slowly, "Only if you have a guide."

-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-

"So, for what _my_ opinion is worth, I don't think the kid is going to stay," Plasmadrop explained, fully knowing she might as well be talking to a wall as she and Wisp continued their brisk pace towards the Magistrate's office.

The Military Overseer said nothing, just as her subordinate knew she would, and thus Plasmadrop took it as initiative to continue talking, "He's already fragged about the whole thing, after all. He can fly faster than anybody else here, and I don't think we want to risk shooting him down in the event he tries to escape."

"Your faith in my abilities to keep an Aerialbot under control is welcomed," Wisp muttered darkly, "Please continue."

Plasmadrop slowed minutely, "Uh, nope that's ok."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes ma'am."

Wisp narrowed her optics at the ground-bound femme and they were on their way again, "If you must know, Plasmadrop, though I assume it should be none of your concern to begin with, the Magistrate is not sparkless. She will take her son's overall well-being into consideration."

"Yeah, she'll _consider_ it all right. That doesn't mean the end result will be in his best interest."

"You're one to talk."

Plasmadrop flinched, "If you're referring to the incident with the Spires again, I learned my lesson long ago."

Wisp froze in the doorway to the Magistrate's office, golden optics unusually somber, "No. Not yet you haven't."

"Then when will I? When will you be satisfied enough with anything I've done to count that lesson '_learned'_?"

Wisp clenched her jaw, "Just remember one thing, Plasmadrop: if pure talent were the _only_ reason we had to make you Weapon's Specialist, you would not be here."

"Yeah, yeah, whatever," the ground-bound femme grumbled, stepping into the office behind her superior.

The Magistrate glanced up from her work curiously, deciding to not comment on the waves of discomfort her officers were polluting her workspace with, "How is he?"

"Your son is well and currently resting. The medical staff suspects he will be in the right mind to see you again in a matter of a few joors," Wisp bowed.

Symmetry smiled with relief, settling back into her chair, "And you Plasmadrop. Is there something you wished to speak to me about?"

"I was just in the neighborhood," she averted her optics nervously, "Ah…may I speak bluntly with you, ma'am?"

Wisp gave her a dirty look but the Magistrate nodded pleasantly, and she continued, "I'm worried about the kid—your kid I mean—he doesn't seem to be taking this very well. I'm not a psychologist, but I think it might be a bit much for him to handle if he's _forced_ to stay here."

"Are you proposing I send him back to that disastrous war?" Symmetry's face plates twisted into an unpretty grimace.

"Ummmm…..yes?" she shifted her feet awkwardly, "But maybe…he could still visit?"

The Magistrate huffed, "As much as I would like to agree with you, the moment Ariel finds out about this she'll never let him near Dolhearac's borders again!"

"My recommendation would be that you tell him the truth," Wisp stated, earning curious looks from the other femmes.

"About?" Symmetry pressed, "_I_ have nothing to hide from him."

"But his sister does," Wisp's optics brightened, "If we can turn him against his sister, then there's a chance he will also turn against the Autobots enough to stay."

The Magistrate flickered her optics, "So be it…"

-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-

"That way leads to Plasmadrop's lab," Kitetails explained as she and Fireflight continued their tour of the government complex. By now, the fledgling Seeker had gotten the idea that he didn't actually hear much of what she said, particularly when there were flashing buttons and high-security doors around them like right now, but she continued to inform him nonetheless.

"Plasmadrop? You mean the EMT we met earlier?" his optics flickered curiously in her direction, "She seemed pretty nice actually. But…why does she say _'click-click'_ randomly?"

Kitetails shrugged, "No one's quite sure, but the rumor is that's the sound her favorite weapon makes."

"What weapon makes a noise like that?" Fireflight frowned in confusion, "It doesn't sound very effective."

"Whatever it is, it's probably locked away in her lab somewhere. Plasmadrop _never_ lets _anyone_ touch her favorite weaponry except for _extreme_ circumstances."

The Aerialbots optics flicked back and forth between the door and the hallways quickly, "You think we could sneak in?"

"Oh no! She's our weapon's specialist, remember? Who knows what kind of stuff she might have guarding that door from intruders!"

Fireflight pouted, "Yeah, guess you're right…"

"If it's any consolation, I've heard any flier that's gone in there comes out purging their tanks. Something about the magnetic field in there is messed up."

Fireflight froze, realizing that if he concentrated his sensors, he could feel the nauseating waves of a warped magnetic field slipping through the heavy doors. He couldn't imagine why anyone in a flier-run province would want to own a device that could so easily cause mass chaos among its population. Though it probably did a good job of keeping nosy fliers out of her lab.

Come to think of it, it was pretty odd to see a regular ground-pounder in the midst of Dolhearac's already very biased center of government.

_ 'Fireflight? Where the slag are you?'_ the young Aerialbot winced at the abnormally panicked tone to Airaid's voice. He gestured vaguely to Kitetails that his com. link was running.

_'Getting a tour. How about you?'_

_'Still in the Pit-slaggin' med-bay closet you aft! Where do you _think_ I am!'_

_'Are you ok?'_

_'Consider with me, for a moment, how my last orn has gone.'_

_'I'll be right there,' _Fireflight attempted to assure, not at all used to being a grounding force for any of his teammates, least of all Airaid.

"How soon can we get to the med-bay?" he asked aloud.

Kitetails grinned in understanding, "Right this way. Is our little prince worried you left him?"

Fireflight winced, "Kinda…"

The two of them rushed back through the halls of the capital complex, nearly trampling a particularly petite Dolhearan femme that wondered unawares into their path. They rounded a corner and Kitetail's squeaked, skidding to a halt and almost forcing the Aerialbot to trip over her. Across the hall from them, Magistrate Symmetry quirked an optic ridge and the fledgling seekeress frantically attempted to regain her composure. Plasmadrop tried hard not to laugh, especially at a pointed look from Wisp.

"Magistrate," she bowed breathlessly.

"Erm…yeah, what she said," Fireflight uncomfortably followed suit.

"Kitetails…Autobot," Symmetry returned the greeting, "Do you know if my son is awake?"

"Y-yes ma'am. But—" Fireflight twisted his lip components, "he's not in a good mood."

The burgundy femme saddened, glancing at Wisp, "Perhaps we should wait?"

Fireflight gulped subconsciously as Wisp fixed her stern gaze upon him, "When are you planning on leaving?"

With a start, the Aerialbot realized he had absolutely no idea. That would normally have been Airaid's job to know since he would be the one paying attention during the briefing. With a wave a guilt he noted that he probably should have contacted the base when his wing-mate first fritzed out, or at least after he had been checked into the med-bay.

"Umm, I'm not really sure. The sooner the better I guess. Airaid's probably in a hurry to leave. N-no offence of course, I—"

Wisp stopped listening as Fireflight's speech degraded into barely discernable mumbles of apology, "If that's the case, then we should handle this matter now." She cast a glance at the fidgeting Aerialbot, "We need to speak to your companion in private. Perhaps in the mean time you might think it's best to inform your superiors of the delay? We wouldn't want them thinking we're keeping you against your will, after all."

Fireflight decided not to comment that that was essentially what they were doing anyways, and nodded. He watched pensively as the Magistrate and her consul entered the med-bay. He had a bad feeling about this. Maybe it _was_ time he said something to Silverbolt. Normally that should have been Airaid's job, but he doubted the first thing on his companion's processor was protocol.

The com. link went through immediately, much to his surprise, but he quickly reasoned that his superior officer had long been expecting to hear from them, _"Fireflight reporting, sir."_

_"Very good. What's your status?" _the younger Aerialbot couldn't help but smile at Silverbolt's relieved tone.

_"We're still in Dolhearac. A lot's….happened since we arrived. Nothing bad, really…I don't _think_ anyways, but Airaid is in the med-bay—"_

_"And that qualifies as not being bad?"_

_"Oh no, he's not hurt or anything like that. He uh…his processor hurts I think. We um…we me his creator…here….and he's not taking it...great…."_

A pregnant pause followed, _"His creator. In Dolhearac."_

_"It's TRUE!"_

_"Easy Fireflight, I believe you. Is he…enjoying the reunion?"_

_"No."_

_"Ah…"_

_"Silverbolt, what if they don't let him leave now? What do I do?" _Fireflight suddenly blurted, _"His creator is the Magistrate, and if she says he can't go then he can't go!"_

_"As of yet, that's not the case. I will get this information to Optimus Prime, and we will prepare for negotiations in the event something goes wrong. In the meantime, stay calm and by your wing-mate's side. Airaid will need you, whether he admits it or not."_

_"Y-yes sir," _Fireflight dropped his helm.

_"Good. Com. us as soon as anything changes."_

Another brief salute and the conversation was over. Fireflight slumped against the wall, dropping his helm into his hands as he debated interrupting whatever it was Symmetry was trying to put into Airaid's processor. Anything had to be better than waiting restlessly here in the hallway. So with a small huff of air he stood back up and tentatively stepped towards the med-bay.

"You're actually going in there?" oh right, Kitetails was still here.

"Yes," he answered lowly.

The Seekeress frowned, "You sure?"

"_Yes_." He said again.

"I guess I can't stop you but…be careful, ok? Magistrate Symmetry has been really patient about having a mech around. I don't know how much longer it'll last."

-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-

Airaid looked up at the opening med-bay door expecting to see his wing-mate, but was sorely disappointed to see it was actually his self-proclaimed mother and her cronies. He glared shamelessly at them before snapping his helm away in disgust.

"What could you possibly want?"

"Just to speak with you my dear," the gentle bordering on apologetic tone in the burgundy femme's voice was enough to make him sick. He flinched away as she seated her smaller frame in the chair next to his berth, "You're companion is outside waiting, we won't take too long."

He snorted, but realized he didn't have much of a choice as the Magistrate again began to speak, "Tell me, has your elder sister ever spoken to you about me?"

"My what?" he flickered his optics. Great. Just great. Now he didn't only have a _mother_ he didn't know about, but a sister too! Next they were going to be telling him that Unicron is secretly his dad and he has a twin brother named Hippo. You know, just in case he wasn't questioning his mental stability before.

"Ah I see, so she hasn't attempted to contact you yet. How odd," Symmetry murmured more for his benefit than hers, he was sure, "Tell me, have you met Commander Elita One?"

Airaid just stared at her. This had so better _not_ going where he thought it was.

"I must say, barring a few details, I'm quite proud of what she's done with herself. Maybe she didn't recognize you after all these vorns."

"You've got to be kidding," The Aerialbot sputtered.

"I'm afraid not, young one. Though I could provide you with the data files to prove it if you need them."

Airaid groaned, covering his optics with his arm. He really hoped this was some tripped out hallucination from an experimental medication he snuck from Wheeljack's lab. Because if not, his processor would be fried by the end of the orn.

He didn't see the worried look Symmetry sent Wisp's way, or hear Plasmadrop mutter '_Told ya it was a bad idea'_ to the same lavender femme. He just wanted them all to go away and let him suffer through this in peace. Or better yet let him go home where he could forget Dolhearac even existed.

"Wisp told me you feel I abandoned you." And she was still talking! Couldn't she see he was suffering here, and it was all her fault! And no, that's not what he said, he just hoped that if he didn't say anything back to her she might just go away!

But no, she continued her painfully quiet explanation, "I'm sorry you feel that way, young one, but it wasn't my doing. You see, your sister stole you from me."

His joints locked up as he managed to process that. He glanced at her from the corner of his optic, hoping to look skeptical, but not really feeling it in his spark, "Yeah right."

She sighed heavily, "I understand why you don't want to believe it. I'm sure you must look up to Elita rather a lot, regardless of whether or not you knew she was your sister. But what I speak is the truth. Elita-One, or Ariel as she was once know, kidnapped you when you were very young. Whatever she did with you afterwards, I do not know."

Airaid opted not to tell them about Wheeljack as he just continued to stare at her. He was on the verge of another fritz, he just knew it. But he didn't want to fall unconscious here amidst these strangers and their stories, true or not. And then, almost as though his thoughts had been read, the door opened again to reveal a timid Fireflight. He felt a ripple of relief in his spark before his vision burst into a field of static and he was out completely.

Wisp glared at the intruder and Plasmadrop glanced uneasily between the two of them as Symmetry remained oblivious. The burgundy femme tentatively stroked her son's unconscious helm.

"I don't know if he believes me…" she said sorrowfully.

Wisp muttered something under her breath before adding, "Just give him time Magistrate. There's nothing more we can do for it. His processors need time to cope with all this new information and its implications."

"Can I say something?" Fireflight raised his hand shyly. Once again, Wisp glowered at him, and even Symmetry looked a little miffed, but they allowed for him to continue, "Maybe it would be healthier for him to go home for a little while."

"That's what I've been saying," Plasmadrop agreed, coming to stand next to him, "The kid needs to get out of here for a little while to clear his head. Be surrounded by familiar faces and other stuff while he sorts all this out."

Symmetry titled her helm so that she was looking down her nose at the violet and white ground-pounder, "Are you his mother, Plasmadrop?"

Fireflight heard the violet and white femme curse quietly, "No ma'am."

"Then how can you _possibly_ know what's best for him?"

"I don't," she chuckled nervously, "You know me, Magistrate. I'm pretty opinionated sometimes and like to hear the sound of my own voice."

"Granted," the weapon's specialist shrank further under her superiors gaze. Symmetry watched her a moment longer before turning her optics to Fireflight. And the tempered glare began to burn with hate.

"As for you, Autobot flier," Fireflight gulped as her gold optics narrowed to gleaming slits, "You are not qualified to speak on the matter. I understand you're eagerness to return home, but you are neither his mother, nor do you have much experience in life in general due to your young age. I suggest in the future, you hold your glossa."

Fireflight should have backed down. He _knew_ he should have. But he was tired of this femme acting like just because she was Airaid's creator she could control his life! He straightened his posture, ignoring the alarmed look on Plasmadrop's face.

"But _I_ know him," he stated simply, "I may not be a creator or have lived as long as you have, but I know Airaid a lot better than you do. Maybe better than you ever will if you keep him against his will like this!"

Symmetry looked at him in utter shock. He heard Plasmadrop curse again, this time more loudly and repetitively as she melded herself into the wall. Wisp's normally schooled expression was twisted between surprise, concern and anger. All too late, Fireflight remembered Kitetail's warning from just klicks ago as the Magistrate reigned in her expression to icy neutrality.

"Take him to the brig," she growled, "and leave him to rust."

In an instant Wisp pulled twin sniper rifles out of her sub-space and blew identical holes in his thrusters. It didn't matter if Fireflight wouldn't have made a run for it even if he had the time. He wasn't going to leave his wing-mate's side unless the puny Dolhearan femmes dragged him out kicking and screaming. Out of nowhere several of the medics descended, a few of them injecting some kind of stasis code into his wires. He didn't budge even as his frame slumped to the ground unconscious.

-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-

Elita-One felt truly sick as she made her way to Optimus Prime's office. There was only one reason she could think of that he would summon her now, her suspicions only becoming more realized as she passed Silverbolt along the way. Her mate was already looking at her before the door even opened and she stepped inside. The pregnant pause only lasted a moment, but to her it felt like forever.

"It's as I feared, isn't it," she stated more than asked as she came to stand across from his desk.

He nodded solemnly, "Shall I give you Silverbolt's report?"

"No. Not now," she murmured, "Though I would like to know who contacted him."

"Fireflight did. Apparently Airaid has not been taking the news of his heritage very well."

She hummed softly in thought, "At least he was able to report. Or he was a joor ago. Symmetry may have tired of him since then."

Optimus nodded, and again they fell into silence. Elita wasn't sure if she wanted to leave or stay until her mate spoke again, "As it currently appears we will be entering into negotiations soon, perhaps you could tell me a little more about the Magistrate."

Elita-One caught the hidden meaning behind the request. She had never told Optimus where she came from except for the shortest, least revealing stories she could find. He was naturally curious now that all of this was out in the open, and she realized it was long sense the time she should share it with him. Or at least what details she could in the time they had. There would be plenty of specifics to tell him later, but right now, they were both focused on returning her brother safely home.

And so with a long sigh, she slid into the chair across from him with surprising grace despite the situation, "Symmetry never did like mechs, not even her own mate. She loved him, or so I always believed, but didn't '_like_' him."

She paused, letting Optimus try and sort than one out and when it finally seemed that he couldn't she went on to elaborate, "I remember often when I was young how she would criticize his behavior. It so often seemed as though he could do nothing right," again she sighed, "Still, he adored her with every wire in his framework, and lived to please. It was not…a healthy relationship for either of them, looking back, but…he did keep her grounded."

"And when he was gone, she went off the deep end," Optimus provided. She gave him a weak smile.

"Someone tried to assassinate her, and he got in the way. After the funeral rights were performed, Symmetry locked herself in her office and no one saw her for orns on end except for when she called for energon. She didn't even spare a moment for myself or Airaid. I knew she was in a rage as much as she was in anguish and that combined with her self-imposed solitary confinement turned out to be volatile mix.

"She was never the same when she finally returned to her duties. There was a bitterness to her that poisoned everyone she came in contact with. The few mechs that had been bold enough to brave the capital while my mech creator was still around were arrested for the most trivial offences until there were none left. Any femme with a bond-mate of her own, even if he was in another province, eventually lost her rank except for the few clever enough to keep it a secret. And then came the laws and restrictions that pushed the civilian population even closer to the border."

Optimus nodded grimly, "And where did you and Airaid fit into all this?"

"I was promoted to Civilian Overseer shortly after my father's death. Really it was a blessing as I had the rank to counteract many of Symmetry's proclamations so long as I was subtle. My brother remained virtually neglected by her for over a vorn, leaving him primarily in my care. I was completely content to leave it at that, thinking I would send him to a boarding academy in Praxus or Tetrahex when he was old enough for Symmetry's sexism to start affecting him….But then she suddenly remembered he existed again. And I—I couldn't let her mold him into whatever her ideal for his life would be."

The Prime quietly reached across his desk with an outstretched hand which she thankfully took and squeezed tightly as she began to relate the final chapter, "He was almost ready for his next frame, the one where all young Dolhearans receive their first set of trial wings so they can get used to maneuvering them. If I waited any longer, I knew it would be too late, so I took him one orn claiming I was just bringing the sparkling on a short flight. We made it all the way to the border without question, but that was just the easy part…

"I knew they would find me without a problem if I flew any farther, and it would be simpler to blend into the busy streets of Tetrahex if I was on foot," she began to struggle wither her words, feeling the patches on her hips tingle at the memory, "I had to snap them off. I couldn't draw any attention to myself. Even bots in Tetrahex rarely saw Dolhearans wondering their streets. From there all I could do was run. Run all the way through Tetrahex and into Praxus. It was getting late by then, so the crowds were thinning until I came to several areas where there was no one around but the two of us. I felt so paranoid every time I ducked behind a crate or into an alley whenever I heard someone approaching.

Elita-One shuddered softly as Optimus gave a reassuring thrum. After a pause, she managed a slight smile, "Then he came along. Walking jovially home from work and humming a tune as though nothing in the world were wrong—"

Optimus smiled behind his mask, "Wheeljack."

She nodded, "During my run I had already come to the conclusion that if I really wanted to keep my younger brother safe I would have to leave him someplace safe. And….somehow I knew he would be the perfect choice. I followed him home, and placed Airaid on his doorstep. And the rest is history."

Again her mate smiled, though there was a hint of somberness to his optics, "So I see."

"There is…one other thing…"

"Yes?"

"Symmetry isn't the only one we have to worry about. There's also Wisp."

"And that would be—"

"The Military Overseer," Elita sat back in her chair in preparation for another long explanation, "She may be outranked by the Magistrate but…I've known Wisp a long time, and I know that little detail won't stop her once she's set her spark on something."

"Very well. How does she fit into all this?"

"To start, Wisp was assigned to be my sparring partner when we were still fledglings. She was talented for our age bracket, but then again, I guess I must have been so as well. Over the vorns we developed a close friendship…probably the first one she ever had. As adults we each commanded our own unit, and were often assigned coordinated missions. She was promoted to Overseer at the same time I was."

"Thus making her a formidable opponent in either the negotiations or, Primus forbid, a battlefield." Optimus mused.

She nodded, "And that isn't even taking into account that she has a temper and cradles her grudges. I've seen Wisp when she's felt wronged before, and it clouds her otherwise clean judgment. I'm worried…she might have a vendetta against me for abandoning her like that. I didn't even tell her I was worried about Airaid, let alone that I was planning on taking him away."

Optimus' optics darkened, "And what, dare I ask, does an emotionally fueled grudge do to your former companion? And more importantly, what can be done to counteract it."

The pink Femme Commander's lip components drew into a thin line, "The goal becomes priority and rules dissolve to nothing. There is only the past and the present and what must be done to bring retribution to the former."

"So skewed is her judgment that she won't even look at the consequences." Optimus sighed wearily, "A single soldier with that mentality is one thing, but a commanding officer with resources to back it up is another. By Primus I hope it doesn't come to that."

Elita smiled grimly, "Agreed."

-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-

Frog: Please let me know if you found any outstanding grammar/spelling errors. Or you could just reveiw anyways, you know for fun XD

And as always thank you so much for reading and have a beautiful week one and all! Bye!


	7. Chapter 6:  Orn 5

Frog: It's been awhile, I know. So here's a nice long chapter ;) So far this is all of Orn 5, but I might make a part two if the plot calls for it as I move forward. Today, however the true nature of our villians is revealed and many points are clarified.

Very soon we will reach the climax of this story :D

-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-

**Orn 5**

Negotiations for the Aerialbots' return began early the next orn. Optimus, Elita, Prowl, Ratchet and Wheeljack all attended the meeting. Dolhearac had answered the Autobots hale far more readily than Elita expected, and she hoped this was a sign of smooth proceedings. The large screens above the Autobot conference room lit, displaying Magistrate Symmetry's neutral expression. She was curiously alone in her office, no sign of Wisp or any other official.

"Optimus Prime," the Magistrate greeted with a nod.

"Magistrate Symmetry, I must thank you for taking the time to speak with us," Optimus answered kindly.

"I'm sure," she sighed, "I presume you are here to discuss the return of your Aerialbot. Rest assured there is no need for negotiations, he will be returned to you shortly."

"While I am relieved to hear that, I believe you have left out the fact that we currently have two Aerialbots in your custody."

"Oh? Odd, I only recall seeing the one," Symmetry frowned innocently.

Elita-1 sat up a little straighter, trying to keep as much sarcasm out of her voice as possible, "Perhaps there was a mistake in our files. Do we have a _Dolhearan_ Autobot on this mission?"

"Are you referring to my son?"

The two femmes all but glared at each other for several long moments before Optimus cleared his vocalizer in the hopes of staying an altercation, "Is there a chance you will release Airaid to us?"

"Release him? To you?" the femme set her lip plates into a thin line as she tried to reign in her anger, "My son is _home_ now. You have no rights to him!"

"So long as he bears the Autobot insignia, he is my responsibility," Optimus answered sternly.

"And for his stay in Dolhearac he is _my_ responsibility. You needn't worry about him Optimus Prime. He is safe here from all threats."

Elita-1 and Optimus shared a glance as Prowl went with a different approach, "Would you at least allow us to speak with him?"

Symmetry narrowed her optics suspiciously, "For what purpose?"

"It is our practice that every soldier give his own mission report," Prowl answered simply, "However, considering our military files are strictly classified, we will have to meet with him in person."

Elita could have hugged the mech as Symmetry paused to consider. To deny such a simple request was to imply that Airaid was being kept a prisoner of war, and therefore make Dolhearac a hostile province. If the Magistrate wished to continue her stint of neutrality, she had little choice but to comply.

"And afterwards I will keep my son with me in Dolhearac?" Symmetry queried hesitantly.

"So long as he isn't held against his will," Elita-1 answered, keeping her expression neutral for her creator's sake.

The Magistrate's optics widened marginally before slitting back into a glare, "Very well. We will meet with you in one orn. I will permit a delegation of six Autobots to be present, and the location of the proceedings will be submitted to you by orn's end."

"Thank you Magistrate Symmetry," Optimus smiled behind his mask as the video feed ended.

"Six?" Prowl pondered, wings twitching, "That's rather a generous number of soldiers for her to allow in Dolhearan territory."

"Indeed," Optimus lowered his helm thoughtfully, "Elita?"

"I'm afraid I don't have an answer," she sighed, "It seems odd to me too."

"Can we take it as a sign that Symmetry wants peace?" Wheeljack piped up hopefully.

"If anything she's trying to save face and show she's not afraid of us," Ratchet snorted.

"Or a trap," Elita sunk down in her chair a little.

"Regardless of her reasoning, we must take great care in which Autobots will be in attendance," Prowl pulled out a datapad, "Silverbolt is Airaid's superior officer and as such will be receiving his report. That leaves five slots."

"Wait, so we are gonna rescue him, right?" Wheeljack's head fins flickered in alarm.

"If he wishes to leave. That was our deal with Symmetry after all," Prowl smirked slightly.

The inventor sighed with relief, "Thank Primus, you guys had me worried there for a second. Oh, and I'd like to sign up to be a part of this mission by the way."

Prowl cast a glance at Optimus who nodded his approval, "Very well. Any other suggestions?"

"Moonracer," Elita-1 answered, "The Dolhearan's will appreciate seeing an Autobot femme, and she's a talented sharp-shooter able to match some of their best. I would also like to be permitted attendance."

Prowl paused, "Are you certain that's the best idea?"

"I can read Symmetry. That alone is reason enough for me to go."

"Then I will be joining you," Optimus stated, also earning an incredulous look from his second in command.

"I'm not so sure about that one, Prime," Ratchet glared, "What if it is a trick? We could very well be out two of our highest ranking commanders in one fell swoop. Not to mention if the Decepticons ever get word of this…"

"I will go as an offering of trust," the Autobot leader explained, "Dolhearac is still neutral, despite this incident. I do not believe Magistrate Symmetry wishes us ill."

"If you're sure," Prowl filled in the other slots, "And the last spot?"

They thought for a moment before Prowl simply entered a name, "Mirage. Also a sniper, less likely to make a fool of himself than Bluestreak and his cloaking ability can be put to good use should things take a turn for the worse."

The others agreed and were dismissed. Elita headed for her office to start delegating whatever tasks she had to do the next orn to her subordinates and find Moonracer to alert her to their mission.

"Hey Elita-1! Wait up!" she paused as Wheeljack jogged up next to her and fidgeted nervously, "So…you're Airaid's sister?"

She smiled dryly, "Yes."

His headfins flashed blue, "And you obviously knew…so why didn't you tell him?"

Her smile faded, and she looked down at the seam where the wall met the floor, "I suppose I was trying to protect him. I didn't even know he was an Autobot until fairly recently. He was already an Aerialbot by then, and he just seemed so happy and at home in the air…I was afraid of ruining that happiness with the burdens of his past," she sighed wearily, "Looking back I perhaps should have said something, to you if not to him. We might have avoided this whole mess…"

Wheeljack shrugged awkwardly, "Yeah I guess. But it's all in the past now….Hey uh…did you know Kitetails too?"

"When she was very young," Elita-1 explained softly with a fond smile, "Wisp and I found her after the Spires south of here were abandoned. She was such a good sparkling, I would have brought her with me if I thought I could get away with it, but my brother had to come first."

"Wait, so her parents abandoned her?" Wheeljack tilted his helm in confusion.

"Her and most of their belongings. At least those that were still alive," Elita-1 hummed thoughtfully, "It looks like I have another secret to tell. Care to accompany me back to my office?"

He nodded and she continued to talk as they made their way through the halls, "To be honest, the Seekers leaving the Southern Spires was something of an accident. Not long before I was promoted to Civilian Overseer, there was an aspiring inventor in the province named Plasmadrop. She wasn't created in Dolhearac, and as such most bots there didn't take her too seriously. But she was talented and determined to prove it by any means necessary, so….she built a magnetic-field generator—"

"In a province full of fliers?" Wheeljack asked in alarm despite the fact that he found such an idea interesting. If he could replicate her results on a smaller scale maybe—

"We were lucky she didn't turn it on until it was time to test. And considering that Dolhearans and Seekers have never truly gotten along she decided their home would make the perfect trial run. Unfortunately it was much more powerful than she anticipated and the Seekers were forced to evacuate. Wisp, myself and a few others were assigned to assess the damage that was left behind. A third of the Spires population had flown themselves into a wreck and their bodies littered the area. Kitetails was found among the mess the Spires had become, and I for one couldn't bear to leave the sparkling to die."

Wheeljack narrowed his optics, "Bet the Seekers didn't like that…"

"They never found out…" the pink femme answered slowly.

"How?"

"We planted the bodies with a flier virus and hoped that if other Seekers ever came to investigate that the incident would be considered an unfortunate outbreak of disease. I suppose the Spires are Dolhearac's biggest secret. If the Seekers ever found out what really happened, my home province wouldn't stand a chance."

-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-

The adults had been arguing too much. Kitetails wasn't even sure what they were fighting over any more half the time. She was starting to regret coming.

The young seekeress had been excited at first. Powderain had invited her to come to the conference where she and the other officers were listening in on the conversation between Magistrate Symmetry and the Autobots. Apparently, Symmetry wanted the officers informed, but preferred to deal with Optimus Prime herself without certain subordinates getting huffy.

Ever since then the Officers, particularly from the military side of things had been up in arms about what they should do, even after Symmetry had come into the room. Wisp and Powderain were the most at odds with the former wanting to meet in Dolhearan territory while the latter preferred they meet in the ruins of Tetrahex for what was certainly going to be a neutral exchange.

"They will have an advantage! Airaid will have no problem escaping if left out in the open!" Wisp snapped.

"Don't you see he will have to leave anyways!" Powderain shouted back, "As Commander of the Dolhearan border patrol, I can't allow any more Autobots in our territory!"

"And as your superior officer, I say that you must!"

"No! We can't!" Powderain's voice became shrill.

Wisp settled back on her heel struts, sizing up the pastel pink femme, "Are you challenging my authority soldier?"

Villanelle snorted rudely from where she stood next to Kitetails, "I can't wait for the orn that's no longer the case. Life'll be so much easier…"

The fledgling gave her an inquisitive look, "What do you mean?"

"_Everyone_ likes Powderain more than just about every other Officer combined, if nothing changes, she's pretty much guaranteed to be our next Magistrate and she and Wisp both know it."

"Is that why Wisp is so hard on her?"

"She's probably jealous," Villanelle shrugged with a smirk.

Kitetails looked up at the bickering femmes, but couldn't see how Wisp would ever jealous of anyone. She guessed there must be something else. Maybe Wisp had a grudge against Powderain too, just as she did Elita-1? Of course this was all just the speculation of her youngling processor, she could never be sure. Still, there was something about this animosity that she had always found unsettling.

"Ladies," the Magistrate finally stepped in, "I've had quite enough of both of you. Powderain, I expect you to find a suitable building within the confines of the Dolhearan border as soon as possible. Wisp, understand that if we wish to remain neutral, we must…release Airaid to the Autobots if that is what he wishes…"

"Magistrate, he's young, he doesn't know what he wants yet," Wisp sighed, "The Autobots don't understand that!"

"Yes he does!" Kitetails piped up, and quickly covered her mouth as every set of optics settled on the new unexpected source of argument.

The lavender femme fixed her with a dull glare, "And how would you know, fledgling?"

She shifted uncomfortably and was about to ask that Wisp forget she said anything with Powderain spoke up instead.

"Go ahead, young one. As a guest at this meeting you have the right to speak your case," her mentor explained gently.

"Well, o-ok," she cycled her vents a few times, "I-I know because I _am_ a fledgling, like you said. Airaid's an adult, and a very nice one. And if I know what I want, then he's certainly old enough to know what he wants."

"Fine," Wisp growled, "Allow me to reiterate, he is too young to understand the difference between what he wants and what is best for him."

Kitetail's straightened a bit, "So?"

Any quiet murmurings around the room stopped as Wisp's optics widened. Encouraged by this response, Kitetails continued, "Isn't making mistakes ok? Isn't that growing up?"

"Very well said, Kitetails," Powderain praised.

"Not if the mistakes get you killed in the end," Wisp glowered, but not necessarily at the young Seekeress.

"Elita-1 is his sister, right? I'm sure she won't let anything bad happen to him. He won't get killed just because he wants to be an Autobot more than he wants to be a Dolhearan," Kitetails went on.

Symmetry snorted, "She still isn't his mother. Thank you for your insight Kitetails, but I must disagree with you. This is, unfortunately political issue and not a moral one. Morally, Airaid should stay with me. Politically, if the Autobots perceive him as wanting to return home then my hands are tied so long as we assume neutrality."

"There's still time to convince him otherwise," Wisp suggested bitterly.

"I intend to try," Symmetry agreed, "Now if you would all please tend to your duties, I must speak with my son."

And with that the Magistrate left. Kitetails moved to leave behind Powderain, but not before she caught the glare Wisp was giving her.

"Would you like to attend the festivities, Kitetails," Powderain asked lightly.

"Umm, yeah, I guess."

-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-

One Joor Later:

"You wanted to see me Magistrate?" Kitetails asked softly as she peered into Symmetry's office. The burgundy femme glanced up from her datapads and motioned for her to enter.

"Powderain wishes for you to be present for the Autobot's visit. You have been made aware of this?"

"Yes ma'am. She asked me first."

Symmetry smiled faintly, "I'm sure she did. And you agreed?"

She nodded and the Magistrate looked down at her data pads, "You know you are like a daughter to me, don't you Kitetails?"

The young Seekeress felt her chassis warm at the comment. She had always known the Magistrate must like her, after all why else would she let a Seeker live under her roof. She didn't deal with Symmetry much, personally, but every time she did it was with a patience that most Dolhearan's just didn't have. Symmetry had ensured she received the best education and accepting caregivers. She remembered one in particular from when she was very young that had pink paint and a warm smile. Given recent events she almost wondered if that had been Elita-1, or Ariel or whatever her designation used to be.

"Thank you ma'am," she smiled brightly, to which the Magistrate returned a more subdued one.

"I think it is a blessing that you are interested in such political matters. It speaks well of your future here in Dolherac, however—" and at this Kitetails quickly straightened her posture, "Before I can grant my signature of approval, I must have your word that you will behave."

"Of course. You won't even know I'm there!" Kitetails nodded enthusiastically.

"That means no speaking."

"Ok."

"No fidgeting."

"Uh-huh."

"And always listen to your superiors."

"Yes ma'am."

"Especially Wisp."

Kitetails pouted slightly, "I don't think she likes me very much."

"It's not you, Kitetails, it's just this whole incident in general has her in a tizzy," Symmetry shook her helm, "I'm starting to worry about her. I'd forbid her from going to meet the Autobots if I could, but that may rather make things worse," she shook her helm tiredly.

"Is there anything I can do?"

Symmetry's optics flickered in surprise at the offer, "Just mind yourself. Be a good little fledgling and I'm sure Wisp will have no reason to take her anger out on you. It's Ariel she hates," the Magistrate frowned, "And I must admit Elita-1 does not please me either. Regardless of how the Autobot femme treats you during the proceedings I want you to be cautious. Don't believe anything she says, she's only there to retrieve her brother. The same goes for the other Autobots."

"Elita-1 is going to be there?"

"I'm willing to best my station on it."

-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-

The weapons lab was a mess, as per usual. Plasmadrop preferred to keep it that way, for the purpose of ambiance if nothing else. At least that's what she kept telling herself.

Inwardly it was really more of an effort to disguise the large beacon in the room's epicenter. The spherical weapons lab in Dolhearac was a special place in many ways, and all of them were due to that accursed machine…

"I should really just take you apart," Plasmadrop muttered to herself, having glanced up at the vile device for the umpteenth time, "And yes I'm talking to you!"

The device, of course, did not respond, and merely continued its constant pulsation of magnetic fields that drove any flier in range into a tizzy. Her lab was wrapped in twenty layers of metal and insulation just to keep the resident Dolhearans from falling out of the sky, and even that wasn't enough to keep the few unlucky interns that worked the nearby offices from taking special additives to keep their energon down.

"And don't think I won't, either," Plasmadrop huffed, waving a tool threateningly in the device's direction, "Just because you got me a job here gives you no license to say what I can and can't do to you! Do you hear me?"

Again no response.

"Do you even know what you've done?" continued the rant, "_You_ are responsible for those empty spires down South! Yeah, the ones Kitetails came from? You know her? Of course you don't, I'd never let that sweet sparkling anywhere _near_ a monster like you! And it doesn't change the fact that it's your fault she was abandoned there, 'cause you chased away her parents…or maybe they crashed….slaggit why do you have to be such a monster? How can you be so sparkless! Don't you even care?"

Her query was answered only by her own echo, but it was enough to bring her to her knees as she stared at the ever-silent behemoth that kept her trapped in this Primus-forsaken place.

"I didn't mean to," she whispered at length, "I didn't mean to hurt all those bots… I just wanted to prove myself! I wanted everyone to see what you're capable of…what _I'm_ capable of. But I guess all I'm talented at is making slag happen…"

She twirled one of her tools only to toss it half-heartedly at the machine, "I mean if it wasn't for Kitetails we wouldn't even _be_ in the mess we are right now with the Autobots and Airaid and slag. And Kite wouldn't be here if it wasn't for my own slaggin' pride…Is this mess seriously my fault? I hope not, otherwise I might just have to make good on my threats of taking you apart, and then how lonely would I be? I mean, you've got a lot of little brothers and sisters now, but I can't even use most of 'em! Stupid neutrality. Should've joined the war when I still had a chance, then my little ones would get some use…"

There was an obnoxious pinging sound in her helm courtesy of Wisp, and Plasmadrop sighed drearily, "Well it was nice talking to you again, buddy. Thanks for listening as always. I'll probably take you apart some other time, but you're safe tonight. In the meantime, Unicron is calling me back from the Pit, and I'd better go see what she wants before things get much nastier around here…."

And so she traipsed through the halls towards her superior's office, contently ignoring the occasional glare she received from any passersby. She didn't look Dolhearan and she didn't try to act like she did, one would think the locals would be used to her by now, but apparently that was not the case. Not that it really ever mattered. She answered to Wisp and the Magistrate, they couldn't touch her.

And even if they tried, she was the creator and owner of the largest set of custom weaponry in the entire province. She liked to think she could handle herself.

Those that knew her better, however, understood more clearly that she couldn't.

Plasmadrop's grin grew uneasy the moment she stepped into Wisp's overtly tidy office and noted the Military Overseer's rigid posture. She shuffled in quietly, standing at attention by the now closed door.

"Click-click! You wanted to see me, Wisp?" she tried to sound friendly. It never really worked, but she still gave an effort.

Wisp turned to her subordinate with an icy stare, "I have a specific task for you. It would seem that Kitetails is getting ahead of herself…forgetting that her place among us is a gift and not a privilege."

"She's still a kid," Plasmadrop tensed, "don't let her get to you. Aren't most fledglings a little rebellious? I mean, she's probably going through a stage—"

"And she's actually starting to think that Ariel is in the right here…"

"P-please don't try to make this about Elita-1," the weapon's specialist shuddered as alarms started sounding in her processors, "Because you and I both know it's not…or at least I _hope_ you do…"

"The Autobots are coming at the start of next orn!" Wisp snapped, "We can't risk her causing trouble. Something must be done to ensure the fledgling behaves or else she may disrupt the entire operation!"

"And what are you gonna do, huh?" Plasmadrop bit back, though her attitude fell short in the visage of her superior's angry glare, "We can't just toss her in the brig! You know Symmetry would never allow it."

A huff, "Putting her in the brig would solve nothing. Kitetails must _realize_ that where she stands reflects all of us."

Plasmadrop recoiled again, "What e-exactly did you have in mind?"

Wisp's goldenrod optics lighted on a case that displayed her personal assortment of weaponry, many of which Plasmadrop had designed specifically for her superior's use, "Second shelf, on the far left."

The violet and white femme retrieved the item without question, tossing it back and forth in her hands experimentally, "It's a time bomb…"

"It's the perfect size to fit in a small Seeker's cockpit."

Plasmadrop whipped around, "There's no way you would actually—"

"Just rewire it so that it can be remote-controlled," Wisp went on, pursing her lips, "You have medical experience, just attach it while she recharges tonight. No one else will have to know but the three of us, and it can be removed once this situation is taken care of."

"Wisp, no! We can't do that to her!" Plasmadrop squeaked, nearly dropping the bomb on her foot, "P-please don't make me do this, boss. I don't want to hurt her more than I already have!"

The Military Overseer merely quirked an optic ridge, "It's a threat, not something I intend to use. With this, we ensure she acts accordingly to what's expected of her."

Plasmadrop shook her helm rapidly, "And you think I'm going to be ok with this? I'm sorry Wisp, but—"

"How are your little one's doing?" Wisp asked casually, settling her hands on her desk. Plasmadrop was getting really sick of the interruptions…

"M-m-my what?"

"You have a new pet project, don't you? I remember approving the plans for it some time ago. Tell me, does it work as well as you expected?"

"I-I, umm, I don't know," Plasmadrop stuttered, "I haven't had the chance to test it o-out yet…It's one of those weapons you can't just play with o-on a targeting range…I need a real…living target…"

Wisp optics brightened and they both knew she had her cornered, "We have an Aerialbot prisoner taking up space in our brig. Perhaps you can put him to some use?"

The weapon's specialist shuddered violently at that thought, torn between progress and morals. Wisp watched impassively as the inner struggle played out on her subordinates faceplates. Finally Plasmadrop lowered her helm, powering off her optics.

"Just promise me you won't detonate it…" she whispered.

"As of this moment, I have no reason to."

Neither satisfied, nor convinced, Plasmadrop slunk out of the office and back to her lab with a heavy spark. This was wrong. It was so unimaginably wrong! Why couldn't she just stand up to that fraggin' femme and be done with all of them! If not for that Pit forsaken pride of hers…none of them would be in this mess. And even to this orn, that same pride was only making things worse!

"Why can't I just say no…"

-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-

Fireflight twitched restlessly in his cell. It had been joors since he'd awoken here, but he was just now beginning to feel the effects of the cramped space around him. The walls were all at an odd angle, and he had finally determined that the strange shape of the cell must help keep fliers such as himself from going batty as quickly as the typical cube-shape of most cells. Of course, the bemusing angles and shapes could only distract him from the discomfort for so long, and their novelty was running out fast.

He could hear someone weeping a few cells down the corridor and every so often the clicking heel struts of the guard pacing back and forth above them. Shifting further into his own corner, Fireflight could only continue his hope that Airaid would figure out what had happened to him and maybe talk some sense into his creator. Or perhaps the Autobots could petition for his retrieval. Either way, he desperately wished they'd hurry.

He almost dared get his hopes up when he heard a door opening elsewhere in the corridor, even more so when he heard Plasmadrop's voice instructing the guards to follow her. Yet there was also a distinct sense of dread that came over him with each step that echoed down to his cell. Even the weak sobs had ceased as Plasmadrop and the guards stopped in from of his cell and the energy-laced bars parted. Instead of coming forward like his spark wanted him to, his processor made him cower against the wall.

The violet and white femme ducked her helm to see him, pale optics laden with regret as his own blue ones were drawn to the large canon she was just barely managing to keep balanced against her hip.

"H-hold him still," she turned to the guards, words staggering.

"What are you doing?" Fireflight yelped as the femmes marched in and grabbed his arms. He struggled but having not refueled since the previous orn he simply didn't have the strength to rid himself of the smaller frames.

"Hold still, kid," Plasmadrop barked, "I don't want to hurt you unnecessarily."

He froze, pleading optics meeting her pained ones. She flinched away from his gaze, hoisting the canon into a firing position. Looking down the scope, there was a moment of hesitation in which the guards shared a worried glance.

"P-please d-d-don't—" he whimpered, subconsciously gripping on the arms that held him back.

"I'm sorry, Fireflight," the weapon's specialist murmured, "Just please hold still, ok?"

_Click-click_


	8. Chapter 7:  Orn 6 part 1

A/N: Yeah, this chapter is pretty short, but I thought it fitting to stop where we began ;)

-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-

**Orn 6-part 1**

Airaid was in a mood. A really really bad mood. And it must have showed as another Dolhearan femme ducked out of his line of sight. He was tired of being grounded, he was sick of all these politics and he was especially through with his so-called "mother" and her cronies.

He'd considered using the cloak Elita gave him and just flying out of here, but he needed to find Fireflight first. Apparently his wingmate got himself thrown in the brig, which managed to turn some of Airaid's irritation to worry. He hadn't heard from the younger Aerialbot since his processor crashed over an orn ago and it left him feeling uneasy.

Finally he patience was worn out.

"Where is Fireflight?" he nearly barked as his creator came into view followed closely by the even-more-agitating Wisp.

Symmetry froze in whatever greeting she was about to give him with a frown and turned to the Military Overseer, "Wisp, where is the Aerialbot?"

Wisp paused thoughtfully before nodding in the direction of one of the shuttles her soldiers were loading with a questionable amount of supplies, "You may ask Plasmadrop of his condition. He didn't take to our cells very well, I'm afraid."

Airaid watched the lavender femme cautiously for a moment, feeling a chill rush through his frame. Something wasn't right. Finally she turned away to other duties, and he left to find his wingmate. Plasmadrop was busy with the others of their convoy when he arrived at the small transport shuttles, but he could hear the distinct beeping of medical equipment in the nearest one. Peering inside he saw a large pod of the typical sort used for transferring critically damaged patients, aligned with several wires and an energon pump. Steeling his nerves, he accessed the pods controls and opened the vessel.

It was Fireflight alright.

With a gaping hole in his chassis where his spark should be.

Airaid staggered back with a gasp, only to be shoved back inside as the shuttle's on-ramp started closing. The confined space was difficult for his bulky Aerialbot frame to turn around in, but he managed to catch a glimpse of Plasmadrop's high-contrast paint job in the fading light.

"Do you want him to die?" she squeaked, quickly closing the pod again.

"What did you do?" Airaid demanded, turning himself to face her.

The once jovial-seeming femme backed up only to realize she had cornered herself against the closed ramp, "He isn't dead. Let's all just keep our cool and everything will be ok, I promise."

"You didn't answer my question, you scrap heap!" he grabbed her neck, pushing her painfully into the wall.

Plasmadrop shriveled under his enraged gaze, "I'm sorry…I can't help it. Wisp…Wisp manipulated me! I built a new weapon see, and it…it-it-it's supposed to snatch a bot's spark right out of their shell. And it…w-worked? Um, yeah…"

Airaid flickered his optics incredulously at her as he tried to process her half-sputtered words, "Then where is his spark now?"

"O-over there," she pointed weakly at a lock-box in the corner.

"Can you fix him?"

"Nuh-uh. It's Wisp's combination…she won't let me help h-him until we get there…"

"_What!_"

Plasmadrop squealed again as the plating meant to protect the vital wiring in her neck began to collapse in his grip, "She's _crazy_! _Haven't you figured it out yet_!"

Something in his moral coding clicked finally and he realized that continuing to threaten the femme wasn't likely to wield better results, so he slowly let her go. Taking a couple steps back, Airaid tried to get a hold of himself, "What does she want?"

The inventor sighed, rubbing at her dented neck, "Ultimately, she wants to get back at your sister…I think…I'm sure it's complicated…"

"What does that have to do with _him_ though?" he asked desperately, again encroaching on her personal space.

Plasmadrop glanced at the pod lengthily, "Maybe as a means of making you to stay?"

Airaid froze, "As in…if I don't say I'm going to stay in Dolhearac….Fireflight will die?" he shook his helm violently, "But there will be other Autobots there! If I tell them what's going on, then she won't have a choice!"

Plasmadrop started trembling, "Won't work. Not when she's this close to the edge…Slaggit if she hasn't already lept clean off it…"

"You just say that because you're a coward," he spat.

"Be that as it may," she lowered her helm shamefully, "There are more lives at stake here than just your pal here…So just…be careful what you say and do…"

As she spoke the shuttle's ramp once again began to open. Airaid narrowed his optics the moment he saw Wisp waiting outside patiently. He could have sworn she smirked at him just before she turned to the previously unnoticed figure to her left.

"Kitetails, I am assigning you to guard duty. Do make sure that nothing happens to our Aerialbot inmate."

The visibly shaken Seekeress nodded a little too quickly, "Yes ma'am."

Wisp turned back to the shuttle, "Airaid, if you would please come with me. Your creator would appreciate your company in her shuttle."

Airaid watched over his shoulder as Kitetails boarded the shuttle, purposefully keeping far away from a regretful looking Plasmadrop. As the ramp again began to close, Plasmadrop sent him one last pleading look and they were gone. Airaid still wasn't sure what was going on, but all at once he felt the gravity of the situation coming to rest upon his shoulders.

Just how many bots was Wisp willing to hurt to get what she wanted? And at that length, what _did_ she want?

"This way, _sir_," Wisp murmured, already walking away. He was quick to catch up.

"What exactly is your issue?" he snarled lowly.

"My only wish in life is to keep Dolhearac safe, Autobot. Don't make this more complicated than it needs to be."

"You're one to talk, aren't you? 'Cause I've seen a lot of things in just the past few joors that you've made _pretty_ complicated."

"All in the name of protecting _my_ people."

"Looks more to me like it's in the name of revenge."

Wisp stopped abruptly and whirled to face him, "_My only wish in life is to keep Dolhearac safe_! Anyone who wishes otherwise, whether intentionally or unintentionally has no place!"

"Is there something wrong with the energon here that makes everybot here crazy!" Airaid yelled to really no one in particular, earning a few disgruntled looks. Wisp growled and resumed her trek to the Magistrate's shuttle. But Airaid wasn't finished.

"Does your _Magistrate_ even know everything you've done?"

There was no spoken answer, but that was enough.

"And you don't think you're taking this too far? Just to get back at someone who, what, hurt your tender feelings vorns and vorns ago?"

Once again, Wisp stopped to face him, her optics nearly glowing white with anger, "Let me make something very clear to you, Autobot. When Arial, your sister, left us, she didn't just betray me. She betrayed _us all_."

He crossed his arms, "Well from my perspective, I'm glad she did."

"I see you're just as selfish as she was."

"Wisp? Airaid? Is everything alright?" they turned to see Symmetry's slightly miffed though inquisitive expression as she waited on the ramp to her shuttle.

"Your son has merely been concerned for his Aerialbot friend," Wisp bowed.

The Magistrate sighed softly, "I suppose it cannot be helped. Never fret, my son, I'm sure the other Autobots will take good care of him…I—" she paused and despite his dislike for the femme, he couldn't quite meet her pained optics, "…I-I presume you will be returning with him, won't you…"

It was a statement, not a question. He was not required to answer, and so he wouldn't give one, despite the look Wisp was directing at him. He still needed time to sort through this mess.

Besides, his mother may not be perfect, but she wasn't the real problem anymore.

The shuttle lifted off soon after the ramp closed, and Airaid sat quietly through most of the trip despite the quiet whispering of the Magistrate's officials around him. Symmetry was oddly quiet as well, occasionally scolding one of the other femmes if they tried to disturb him. Airaid couldn't help but be thankful for it.

It gave him time to figure out how he could get out of this mess without anyone getting hurt.

Thus far, no means of escape had presented itself so hopefully the other Autobots had a better idea.

All too soon the shuttle landed, and the Dolhearan officials began filing out. Airaid made to follow them when Symmetry stopped him, murmuring to the others that she wished to speak with her son alone.

"Now what?" he grumbled, leaning against the wall as Symmetry remained facing the exit.

"Are you sure you want to do this?"

"What do you think I'm about to do?"

"Leave of course," she sighed, giving him a dull look, "I can see it in your optics, that's what you want to do."

"I'm still thinking about it," he muttered. Her optics lit.

"Is that so? Or are you just sparing my feelings?"

He shrugged.

The Magistrate shook her helm, "Very well. Regardless of what choice you're planning, I thought I would remind you why it's better to stay here."

Airaid resisted the urge to roll his optics. _This was gonna be good._

"First off, you will no longer have to do battle in this dreadful war. You will be safe here in Dolhearac, safer than practically any other place on Cybertron. The Autobots will leave us alone and the Decepticons don't wish to stretch their resources trying to conquer us."

"Yet."

She frowned, but kept the haughty tone in her voice, "I assure you it will be a long while before they make time to try and deal with us. I am also willing to grant…visitation privileges to some of your Aerialbot companions as I highly doubt you would be willing to adopt a Dolhearan frame, nevermind that it probably isn't even feasible for you to do so."

"How old do you think I _am_?" Airaid snapped, angling his wings higher.

"In the grand scheme of things, you are still but a youngling," she smiled slightly.

"And you still don't get it," he ground out, moving to leave the shuttle. He could have sworn he saw Symmetry flinch as he stormed out of the shuttle.

"Autobots inbound. ETA in twelve klicks!" someone announced, and Airaid felt a twinge of relief. He looked up at the small public services building before them, watching as the regular staff were ushered outside to make room for militant forces and their soon-to-be guests. Symmetry stepped around him, hands and wings folded delicately as she held her head high to meet the Autobots as they transformed before the assembled Dolhearans.

"Optimus Prime," the Magistrate greeted, her visage hardening.

"It is an honor, Magistrate Symmetry," he nodded politely.

Airaid looked over the his "rescue", grinning inwardly. With Mirage and Moonracer, it appeared they were ready for Pit to break out too. The fact that Wheeljack was here also helped to calm his nerves.

Then there was Elita-1.

She smiled minutely at him when she caught his optic, and for the first time it truly struck him that they were related. Elita-1 was his sister, all this time. It was almost unnerving, and yet a comforting feeling as well when he realized all that she had done for him and his fellow Aerialbots in the past.

She may have not shown it outwardly, but she had been looking out for him for a long time.

"Your very presence here is making my snipers anxious," Symmetry explained, "It would be my recommendation that we carry through these proceedings as quickly as possible."

"Of course," Optimus turned to Silverbolt who stepped forward and was promptly escorted into the building. Wisp strode purposefully to Airaid's side, gesturing him for her to follow her inside. The young Aerialbot did not miss her quivering wings as they passed the Autobots.

He could have laughed at her obvious resentment if it weren't for the fact that he knew she was insane.

It was with a great sigh of relief that he was put alone in a room with Silverbolt, his superior's optics watching him worriedly as he slumped against the wall.

"Airaid?"

"We've got a problem…."

-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-

The courtyard outside the public services building had fallen uncomfortably quiet as the Dolhearans tried to stare the Autobots down. Elita-1 was feeling particularly in the spotlight as she noted even a few faces she recognized among the gathered guards. Her mother, on the other hand, had refused to acknowledge her.

Optimus cleared his vocalizer, "As we are waiting, we have drafted a peace treaty between the Autobots and Dolhearac. Would you care to look it over, Magistrate?"

Symmetry tilted her helm thoughtfully. Then with a wordless nod, she gestured for them to come inside the building as well. Elita was a little uncertain about all of them going into such an enclosed space, but as Optimus had said the orn before, it was doubtful that Symmetry wanted to start a war.

Negotiations over the treaty were slow and unproductive as Symmetry seemed to find very little to her liking. Elita had expected as much. A _mech_ had written the thing after all. The mere precedence of that was enough to make her creator question the sincerity of every other word.

At long last Silverbolt reappeared but Elita was alarmed to see Airaid was not with him.

Judging by the way her mother straightened, she was just as shocked.

"Where is Fireflight," the Aerialbot leader demanded before anyone else could speak.

"In recovery," Wisp answered at a prompting look from the Magistrate.

"Recovery from what?" Wheeljack blurted.

"He was in the brig," the Military Overseer explained.

"Can we see him?" the inventor nearly pleaded.

"Once we're done here."

Silverbolt's optics narrowed and Elita-1 felt her spark flutter in anxiety. _Airaid?_

The much larger flier approached the lavender femme fearlessly, "We will be done here once we see him. Now where is he?"

Wisp flicked her wings once showing she was not intimidated by the taller mech's near threat. Symmetry looked between the two curiously.

"Perhaps you should fetch him. The young Aerialbot is of no more use to us."

Wisp's haughty posture dropped, but her glare did not, "I must respectfully disagree. The Aerialbot still needs to recover from his ordeal."

"I'm sure his fellow Autobots can help him recover just fine."

Wisp pursed her lips, but bowed nonetheless, "Of course, Magistrate. Plasmadrop, bring him in."

The doors to the back opened, revealing a white and violet femme that Elita-1 remembered all too well. Behind her several other femmes carried a medical-emergency pod with Kitetails trailed off to the side holding a large box. Even from across the large room, the Femme Commander could see the Seekeress was trembling.

"As I said, he is not well at the moment," Wisp commented at seeing the worried look that passed over many of the Autobots' features, "We have him in stasis for the moment."

"Prove it!" another voice demanded from the back of the room. Airaid rushed to Silverbolt's side a moment later, "Why don't we open it up! Make sure he's really in there!"

Symmetry did not take well to such accusations of one of her officials, and stepped between Wisp and the two Aerialbot mechs, "That is quite enough Airaid. You had no complaints on the journey here, it is unacceptable that you make such remarks now. If you had concerns, you should have drawn them up with me."

"And would you have believed me?"

It was Elita's turn to intervene, now standing between what little space was left between her creator and younger brother, "Mother, please, perhaps we should hear him out?"

Symmetry's optics narrowed dangerously, "You have no right to call me by that term, Autobot."

"Then what shall I call you? Am I no longer your daughter?" Elita-1 asked softly, her own visage growing hard.

"No. No you are not," the Magistrate answered clearly, turning away from them, "And…and neither is he my son."

Hushed murmurs filled the room as Elita took a staggering step back. Every pair of optics she crossed looked away, some in fear, others in disgust. All except for Wisp whose cold expression was haunted by a fear and pain that only Elita could see before she turned to follow her Magistrate to the back of the room.

"We have to get out," the femme commander breathed, not even really realizing what she had said until her fellow Autobots started to back away, weapon's whirring to life. She was quick to follow suit, keeping a steady optic on the sniper's as Silverbolt and Wheeljack set to collecting Fireflight's pod. Airaid yanked the box out of Kitetail's hands before the fledgling scrambled away.

"They had almost made it to the door when the Magistrate's voice reached them from across the expansive room, "Powderain, you have my permission to dispose of these intruders."

"Yes Magistrate, and much closer voice acquiesced as Wisp spun to face them in alarm.

There was a loud hiss and a roar that Elita scarcely heard, followed by bright light and Optimus calling her name before all went black.


	9. Chapter 8:  Orn 6 part 2

A/N: I started thinkin' that Seekers probably wouldn't have cockpits on Cybertron because there would be absolutely no reason for them :P But it's a little late to be thinking about details like that now. Oh well XD

At long last we've caught up to the events of chapter 1. It's been awhile for some of you, so you might want to flip back to refresh your mem. banks ;)

As a side note, the middle area is kind of iffy to me XP There were just too many character around at once and I didn't know what to do with them all, so to me it looks a little messy but I don't know how I should polish it up. So sorry about that, especially if there's any confusion in there. The ending is much better, I promise ;)

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**Orn 6-part 2**

Airaid coughed and sputtered, desperately trying to clear the residue from this large vents. Well that had been a lovely way to start a new war, or making the war bigger or…aw slaggit, he just couldn't be bothered to care about this Primus-forsaken province anymore. If Dolhearac wanted to play this game, then by all means he was happy to take his turn. Next glider he saw was getting shot through the head, didn't matter if it was Wisp, Powderain a complete stranger or his own creator. He stumbled up onto his feet, admiring the Dolhearan's handiwork. Individual charges on all support structures, bringing the roof down on top the lot of them and giving the Dolhearan's an advantage he guessed. Though he had to wonder how many of their own had been wounded in the process.

There was a growl somewhere off to his left and he turned to see Silverbolt rubbing his helm as the larger flier regained his footing. Airaid felt a twinge of relief.

"Processor ache?" he asked in a forcefully light tone.

The Aerialbot commander gave him a side-long glance, speaking in a harsh whisper, "Be quiet will you? They could be anywhere! Now, can you stand?"

"Lemme check," Airaid grumbled, rocking to his feet in one fluid motion and throwing his arms out in a sarcastic "Ta-da."

"Good. Let's find the others."

The two Aerialbots maneuvered around the rubble, sensors on high alert for any threats moving in the shadows. Clicking peds and muffled orders could be heard from what little was left of the floor above, urging them to move faster.

"Did you hear that?" Airaid asked softly.

"You mean the voices up ahead?" Silverbolt's frown deepened, "Stay on your guard."

The two Aerialbots, though not the stealthiest of individuals, managed to reach the corner of a broad clearing without the bots within noticing.

"And who are you going to believe? Symmetry or your own mem. Banks?" Elita-One put her hands on her hips.

Across from her, Kitetail's frame was shaking both visibly and audibly, "I-I-I don't-"

Almost in slow motion, the fledgling turned her helm away, and without much thought or reason, Airaid activated his thrusters again. The Aerialbot barreled into Elita-One, taking Kitetail's shot to the shoulder before time regained its normal pace and the two crashed to the ground. Kitetails never looked up, only crumpled to the ground in a fit of sobs as Airaid quickly moved off the Femme Commander and helped her to her feet.

Elita-One hesitated at his offered hand, and Airaid figured it must be as just as awkward for her to know that _he_ knew they were siblings. Finally she accepted the gesture, the two of them staring at each other wordlessly for a moment longer.

"Wheeljack is on his way. He heard the shot, and knows where we are," Silverbolt interrupted softly.

Elita-One nodded with a small sigh, "And the others?"

"Are with him."

"Well I suppose we should be thankful that Symmetry isn't fully out for our heads," the pink femme muttered, again kneeling next to the momentarily forgotten unconscious frame of Optimus Prime, "I'd almost dare to hope she wants us to escape."

Airaid scoffed, "Then why go to all this trouble? Why not just let us leave?"

"Probably to make a point," Elita muttered darkly, "We are not allies to Dolhearac. She doesn't want us, or the Decepticons, to get any ideas."

"Is this reassuring?" Silverbolt began moving some of the heavier rubble from the Autobot leader's prone form.

"Only in that we are still online."

"What'd I miss, is everyone—woah…uh, never mind…" Wheeljack rubbed his helm awkwardly as he looked over the damage to their leader. Behind him Mirage and Moonracer were holding Fireflight's container and associated box.

"Moonracer, Mirage. Keep a sharp optic out," Elita instructed before turning back to the only real medical personnel they had on hand, "Is it safe to move him?"

Wheeljack ran the deepest scan he had, which was superficial at best, but nodded just the same, "The heat from the explosion melded most of the damaged energon lines shut. Most of the shrapnel is small and can be dealt with later. Silverbolt, would you be able to carry him? I think I can handle Fireflight by myself. We need as many hands with weapons in them as possible, am I right?"

"What about that one?" Moonracer called awkwardly, motioning with her gun to the trembling heap that was Kitetails.

"She's uninjured," Elita assured, sending the fledgling a pitying look, "Though I fear she may be traumatized…"

"We're all set to go," Wheeljack announced, hoisting up one end of Fireflight's container so that he could drag the thing over his shoulder while his other hand held the seemingly important box. Elita gave a curt nod, taking the other end of the container as she was still without a weapon and the group moved to leave.

"Please…help…me," a soft whimper stopped them in their tracks.

Five sets of blue optics stared into Kitetail's desperate orange ones as the fledgling remained curled in on herself on the ground. Wheeljack slowly set the container back on the ground.

"Are you sure she's not hurt?" the scientist asked in concern as he jogged over to the young femme that he had so quickly formed a friendship with a mere few orns ago.

"They're getting closer," Mirage called after him, "I hear footsteps."

Wheeljack didn't respond, crouching by Kitetail's side as the femme once again began to weep, "I don't wanna die…"

"Hey now, we aren't going to hurt you," the scientist's head-fins flickered dimly, "Can you show me where it hurts?"

Her sobs became more pronounced as she loosened her grip around her cockpit. Wheeljack hummed reassuringly and ran a scan. What he found froze him down to his very core.

"Kitetails I need to you lie down on your back and hold very still, do you hear me?" he instructed, helping her into aforementioned position, "You're gonna be alright, I promise. I deal with stuff like this all the time."

"Wheeljack, what's happening?" Elita-One put her hands on her hips, concern evident in her voice.

"There's another bomb."

Kitetails managed a strangled whine as words were finally put to what she already knew. Airaid cursed as the others looked on in shocked horror.

"They would do that to one of their own?" Moonracer nearly snapped, coming to stand guard over the two as Wheeljack retracted the fledgling's cockpit, revealing the snugly fit device.

"Wisp would," Airaid spat, "and that cowardly minion of hers."

"You _knew_ about this?" Elita's voice cracked as she came to kneel by Kitetail's side as well, taking the fledgling's hands in her own.

"I didn't know the details," the Aerialbot snorted angrily.

Wheeljack set out some tools from his subspace, prodding carefully at the device, "Remote activated, that's something of a relief."

"Couldn't that also make this a trap?" Mirage grimaced.

Wheeljack glanced up at him, "Could be, but, Airaid, you said Wisp right? That's someone different than who set off the first set of explosives."

The flier nodded, "As far as I can tell, she was trying to blackmail me into staying."

"We've got company," Moonracer announced as another voice permeated through the space.

"What is going on here?"

Powderain lowered her weapon in the face of the several now aimed at her. A few other Dolhearan soldiers peered around the corners behind her, weapons ready, but not charged, as they too were distracted by the impromptu surgery taking place in the middle of the floor.

"Your superior officer belongs in the Pit, that's what," Airaid snapped before anyone else could offer a more valid explanation, "First she throws Fireflight's spark in a box and _then_ she goes and rigged Kitetails to top it off!"

"Rigged?" the pink and blue femme set her gun against the wall, silently asking the Autobot snipers for permission to come see for herself. Moonracer stepped aside, earning her a glare from Mirage, and the Dolhearan femme came to stand over Kitetail's with a horrified gasp.

"Someone fetch the Magistrate!" she ordered back at her subordinates.

"You seemed so quick to kill us before," Mirage sneered, casting a suspicious glance at the femme.

"We only wished to chase you out. It would only have come to deadly force if you pushed the matter," she snapped back.

"Odd that you would fail to inform me of that plan. I was unaware that my own officers could break my trust so easily."

Airaid stiffened, every instinct in his frame telling him to shoot in the direction of _that_ particular voice.

Wisp hopped from one of the higher stacks of rubble, gliding gracefully to land across the area from Powderain, and leaving the Autobots in the crossfire. The Border Commander straightened, her optics narrowing to a glare.

"You. You did this…" she growled, pointing at Kitetail's quietly shaking frame.

"I suppose that makes us even."

"Just _SHUT UP_!" Airaid finally snapped, only stopped from firing upon the femme right then and there by Silverbolt's sudden tug on his arm.

"I, at least, can apologize for my apparent treachery, but _this_ is unacceptable!" Powderain crossed her arms, "For Primus' sake, Wisp, she's a fledgling!"

Wisp's previously neutral expression shifted to a frown, "I never had the intention of hurting the child. You may even search me if you like, you will find no detonator."

"Got it!" Wheeljack sighed with relief, carefully removing the bomb from Kitetail's chassis. The fledgling seekeress gasped as the pressure was lifted and she let out a long sigh.

"Powderain, what is the meaning of this!" Symmetry stormed in behind the Border Commander, "You said the Autobots would be gone by—By Valkyries' pillar, what is _happening_ here?"

Wheeljack turned to her, headfins flashing delightedly, "We defused a bomb!"

The Magistrate's goldenrod optics moved from the device in his hand to Kitetail's closing cockpit back up to Powderain's narrowed optics which she followed across the room to Wisp's unwavering ones. She stiffened in such a way that only Elita noticed and strode around the Autobots to face the Military Overseer.

"Powderain," she murmured over her shoulder, "your services are no longer required. I will handle Wisp. Please tend to your pupil now."

The Border Commander's optics widened and then became solemn as she crouched by Kitetail's frame and took her from Elita-One's comforting arms. The fledgling still needed to calm down, and her mentor was the perfect femme for the job, or at least that's what Airaid figured. Finally, the Magistrate came to stand between Wisp and everyone else assembled.

"Why?" she asked. Short, simple, and to the point. Wisp seemed taken aback, whether for the directness of the question, or for being questioned at all, Airaid wouldn't be surprised either way.

There was a pause, "I thought you wanted your son to stay."

"_Don't_ even lie like that!" Symmetry snapped suddenly, and the Military Overseer flinched away, "I would never wish to have my son at the cost of one whom I count a daughter!" the Magistrate set her hands firmly on her hips, "Now tell the truth! How does threatening Kitetail's, little more than a youngling, help you get back at whatever demented wrong you believe Ariel as put upon you?"

It was Elita's turn to wince, a feeling of dread pulling at her spark as her once close friend cast a dark look over her, "I have no answer for you."

"So you just want to hurt her, basically," Airaid put in helpfully. He stumbled back as suddenly his newly discovered bonds with both his mother and his sister opened to silently chastise him. This was not a time to run his vocalizer.

"Perhaps the Aerialbot is right," Wisp mused, "She deserves as much."

Symmetry quirked an optic ridge, tone dripping with sarcasm, "As all Cybertronians should be judged by your standards, after all. Ariel's betrayal has caused us pain, I will not disagree. As she was once not only my daughter but also a trusted officer, I can understand. But this—" she gestured to the assembly behind her, "tell me how this is worth it to you, or me or _anyone_! I would not care if you shot Ariel through the spark, but to involve the lives of others who were neither for or against you is simply unreasonable!"

Something snapped.

"You don't get it, do you? None of you do!" Wisp suddenly shrieked, and every bot in the room stepped back, "Ariel hasn't just betrayed you and I, she betrayed _all of us_!"

The walls broke, the carefully guarded filters shredded, the once calm collected femme's frame quaked with rage and remorse all at once as she turned to her friend of once-upon-a-time, "You were going to be our next Magistrate, Ariel! But you betrayed us!"

Elita-One stood tall, "Wisp, just because I'm not longer counted as a Dolhearan doesn't mean that I don't care what—"

"It's too late now!" the lavender femme interupted with a screech, "Dolhearac is doomed and it's _all _your _fault_!"

As quickly as it became unleashed, the pent up emotions escaped her and the proud, steadfast Military Overseer was left a weak and trembling shell before their very optics. Symmetry hummed sympathetically, resting her hands on her subordinates shoulders.

"Perhaps it would be best if you took leave from us for a time," she murmured. Wisp looked up at her wordlessly, then at Elita, then back and forth again.

Her gaze hardened, and Elita's frame went cold.

"You don't understand, Magistrate. I am sorry," a final look at Elita, "You deserve to know what your actions have caused. Watch and see what you've done…"

The unmistakable sound of twin sniper rifles fired in unison, and a fading blur of lavender. The Magistrate fell to the floor dead, a distant shriek, an order delayed by shock. Elita-One felt numb.

_'Watch and see what you've done.'_

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A/N: I _could_ have continued this chapter, but I liked the ending too much. So we'll have our resolutions next chapter followed by the epilogue :D Cliffhangers are more fun anyhow XD


	10. Chapter 9:  Orn 6 part 3

A/N: And...DONE! Huzzah! Well...almost XD I still have the epilogue to post. I'll get to that on Monday though...just because I can XD

And then I can start on the sequel! Woohoo!

Hopefully this chapter wraps everything up nicely though ;) I do hope you all enjoy it! Have a lovely weekend everyone!

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**Orn 6-part 3**

It was strange. Elita-One had not had contact with her mother for many vorns. The elder femme may as well have been dead to her already, and yet in the back of her processer Elita had always known that wasn't the case.

Until it was…

She stared blankly at the ever imposing walls along Dolhearac's border. She had been reluctant to follow Silverbolt's advice that they stay out of the way in the flurry of activity that followed the Magistrate's death. Elita had consented only once it was agreed they wouldn't go far. Perhaps by fond memories or perhaps by Wisp's accusations, Elita could not bear the thought of leaving the people she once called her own in this time of crisis.

"I am sorry for you loss," a familiar and comforting voice drew her back into reality. She turned her helm just enough to see Optimus occupying the doorway of the small building they were taking temporary refuge in.

She sighed, staring back at the place she once called home, "I wasn't expecting it to be this hard…"

"Neither were you expecting it to be so sudden," the Prime mused, coming to stand beside her. She hummed in agreement.

"I see Wheeljack hasn't finished your repairs," she sighed, optics flitting over the damage that remained on his frame from the explosion barely a joor prior.

"Wheeljack was concerned that Ratchet would be dissatisfied with any repairs to non-vital functions, so I told him not to bother with it," he gave her a side-long glance, "While I appreciate your concern, I'm not sure if now is an appropriate time to be evasive. You cannot run from your past forever."

Her face twisted into a grimace, "Perhaps you are right…"

"Then?" he prompted.

With a heavy sigh Elita complied, "I had not been close to Symmetry. Not for a very long time. In a way it's a blessing, for I feel more numbness than pain at her passing. However I cannot shake the feeling that we are worse off for her being dead than we were when she was alive."

"Wisp?"

"Yes. _Her_," the Femme Commander rubbed her temple tiredly.

"Do we have reason to fear there might be some truth to her warnings?"

"I don't know. She was right about some things, though. Everyone always talked about how I would be Magistrate after my mother," Elita reminisced, "I know little about the political situation in Dolhearac now. I suppose in an extreme environment there is room for greater extremists to rise in power? I find it unlikely that such a bot would be elected as Magistrate but I am so far removed from the situation I cannot truly grasp it."

She looked up at Optimus sternly, "I may have chosen to be an Autobot, but I still care about Dolhearac, perhaps more than I should. If there is going to be trouble, I wish Wisp would have just said it outright!"

"I'm sure you are not the only one," Optimus sighed, looking out over the walls, "Though I understand your worry, I cannot help but wonder if perhaps this is all a matter of skewed perspective. It was you who told me how Wisp holds onto her grudges. It is possible that her view of the future was severely altered when you left all those vorns ago, and that she never recovered."

Elita allowed a small nod, "I suppose that _is_ a possibility."

A few moments of silence clicked by as they observed the walls thoughtfully.

"How has Airaid fared under all this?"

"I…I'm not sure," Elita's optics flicked from surprise to remorse, "I've neglected to speak with him since we left, I was so lost in my own thoughts…"

"Perhaps you should find him," the Prime suggested needlessly as she had already started off.

Around the corner and upon what was left of the second floor of their dwelling she found Airaid sulking to himself in the shadow of a ragged wall. Elita felt her tanks churn, but pushed the feeling aside as she clambered up to join him. Airaid jumped at the intrusion, watching her warily as at last pulled herself up over the wall and swung her feet over the edge so that she could continue her recent hobby of watching the wall.

"I understand Silverbolt took Fireflight immediately back to base," she began softly, "Have you heard word on his condition?"

His wings twitched, "Yeah. He's in recovery."

Elita-One nodded, her grim expression lessening, "You opted not to join them?"

He shrugged, "I was kinda hoping they'd catch her…I'd like to give that glitch-head a piece of my mind."

"You and many others," she shook her helm.

Silence reigned supreme as Elita struggled with more to say. Her brother did not remember their creators, he didn't even remember that she was his sister! Could he even be grieved by Symmetry's passing? Or was Wisp and all the trouble she had caused for him and his wingmate the source of his current melancholy. Elita knew how to be an inspiring and strong leader. She was less sure about her ability to be a good sister…

Airaid was not so hampered, "Were you close to her? Symmetry I mean?"

A sigh, "When I was about your age."

"I wasn't," he admitted, finding great interest in a scorch mark beside him.

Elita smiled, "You were fond of her when you were young. As most sparklings are of their mothers," she tentatively reached over, setting her hand on his folded knee, "You needn't feel bad for not knowing her. The Symmetry you met is not the one that first loved and held you. She was always full of crazy ideas, but there was a time when there was still a caring spark to temper them."

He mulled that over a bit, his posture straightening and Elita felt through their bond that he had been reassured. She gave him a small smile, and returned her attention to the walls yet again.

"So what happens now?" he asked slowly.

"They will elect a new Magistrate," Elita explained, "They will not be without leadership for long."

"Do you think they'll be ok?"

"Only time will tell. Compared to what much the rest of Cybertron is facing, their problems are tame."

Airaid began to fidget, "And what about…us?"

"Us?" Elita repeated, and seeing the way he was averting his optics, she felt a smile creep onto her features, "Well I suppose my secret is out. But I would like to leave what comes next up to you…"

"Huh?" his optics flickered curiously.

"I do not wish to burden you with our relation. I will always be there for you, but I would like for you to decide whether or not I am there for you publicly," she elaborated, giving him a smile.

Airaid looked down thoughtfully, before very nearly glaring at her, "So long as you aren't going to start be all over-protective now—"

"I wouldn't dream of it," Elita interrupted with a smile. Airaid slowly returned the expression.

"Alright," he nodded, "You can expect me to call you '_Sis'_ from now on."

She chuckled softly. It was a liberating thing to laugh.

"Commander Elita-One!" the pink femme leaned over the edge to see Mirage frowning up at her expectantly, "A Dolhearan envoy is approaching."

The siblings shared a somber look and both dropped from their secluded perch. They came around the front of the building where the remaining members of their team were gathered, weapons visible, but relaxed. Moments later, three Dolhearan femmes appeared, one which Elita recognized as Powderain.

"I pray all is well?" Elita asked slowly as the two groups stared awkwardly at each other, neither wanting to trust just yet.

Powderain looked her over briefly, and nodded, "As well as can be expected…I regret to inform you, it appears that Wisp has made good her escape and not a trace is left."

Airaid shifted his weight to a thoughtful pose as he addressed his sister, "You gave Fireflight and I cloaking devices before we left. She probably confiscated Fireflight's when he was put in the brig."

"That would certainly explain why even my best snipers have not seen a fleck of her paint since," Powderain muttered, "All the same, I am pleased to find you still here. Your concern is appreciated."

"I suppose I feel partly responsible," Elita admitted, silencing her fellow Autobot's protest before they could start, "And there is a part of me that will always consider Dolhearac my home."

Powderain smiled knowingly, "I understand."

"If I may," Optimus stepped forward, "How are the elections proceeding for the new Magistrate?"

"They are proceeding," Powderain answered simply.

"You're probably looking at her," one of the other Dolhearan femmes cracked a smirk.

"Villanelle! Please!" the pink and blue femme scolded harshly. Her subordinate just shrugged.

"If that is the case," Elita cast an appraising look over Powderain, seemingly to the Border Commander's discomfort, "I implore you to take good care of our people."

"That would be my intention, if it ever comes to pass," Powderain sighed heavily.

"Regardless, do you suppose there is a chance the new Magistrate, yourself or otherwise, would be willing to consider allegiance to the Autobot cause?" Optimus asked hopefully.

"We shall see," Powderain answered slowly, "As it stands, there is much we still have to do. Many laws that I hope will be re-written and many in the brig that do not deserve to be there. I realize the time to choose alliance is close at hand, but I cannot make you any promises."

"Of course," the Prime nodded, "You have your people to think of first."

She offered them a smile, "Thank you for your understanding. If there is nothing left to discuss here—"

"We will be on our way," Optimus waved his hand dismissively, "We wish you the best of luck, be you the new Magistrate or not."

Powderain nodded again, and turned to leave with her soldiers. Elita lingered as long as she could as the Autobots also set themselves to returning to base. The roar of the jet engine caught her attention, and she watched Airaid take off into the sky ahead of them.

_'Race you home?'_ the Aerialbot joked over the com. She allowed a smile before transforming and following the train of Autobots down the road.

_'Maybe next time.'_


	11. Epilogue:  The Pieces Fall Into Place

A/N: Hmm, I wonder...will this epilogue give enough answers to outweigh its new questions? XD

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**Epilogue: The Pieces Fall Into Place**

The orns that followed Magistrate Symmetry's death passed by in a whir of activity and emotion. Villanelle had gone into her quarters one orn just another sniper in the military, but left the room the new Border Commander of Dolhearac. It was an honor she planned to uphold to her predecessor Powderain's excellent standard to the best of her ability.

As the sniper had predicted, her superior officer had suffered little competition to be the new Magistrate of their beloved home province. It made Villanelle feel almost giddy as she stepped lightly into the room where she would officially meet the other newly assigned officers, as well as some old and familiar faces that Powderain was keeping around. The air in the room, while not quite jovial, was still refreshingly hopeful. After a bit more chatting that Villanelle chose not to partake in, the new Magistrate collected their attention to where she stood in the center of the room.

Powderain looked at each of them with quiet dignity, "The coming orns are going to be difficult as the new government is established. There are great changes ahead of us….ones I hope will protect Dolhearac when all's said and done... All I ask is that you offer me the same loyalty you gave the late Magistrate Symmetry."

Villanelle and some of the others nodded their consent. As the pastel pink and blue femme smiled thankfully at each of them in turn, her former apprentice couldn't help but notice that something seemed strangely…out of place with their new Magistrate. Her optics were haunted, certainly something Villanelle had seen before but never quite like this. The newly appointed Border Commander considered asking, but thought better of it. After all, this was a time of celebration, and Powderain was due to address her people in a matter of moments. It wouldn't do to cause her more stress, Villanelle would settle for asking her after the festivities had settled down.

They were soon joined by a couple guards who escorted the Magistrate and her commanding officers to the balcony where Powderain was to address the public for the first time. Villanelle trailed behind the others, sniper's optics never missing a single movement of her superior's frame. Something was definitely off…

The crowd roared as they appeared on the balcony, causing Villanelle to flinch. After a few moments, Powderain raised a hand to ask for silence and began her speech.

"Dolhearac has suffered a great tragedy in the past few orns," she began, lowering her golden optics somberly, "And not just in the loss of our beloved Magistrate Symmetry, but we have also lost the greatest military strategist our province has ever known. They will both be sorely missed, especially as we try to piece together the fragments they left behind."

_"You were going to be our next Magistrate, Ariel! But you betrayed us!"_ Villanelle shuddered at the passing memory. Of all the bots to haunt her today…

Powderain lifted her helm a little higher, "But despite our losses, we have managed to keep that which is most important to us. Our safety. The government of Dolhearac has always taken a great investiture in protecting our people from all harm, and I have every intention of keeping with this tradition."

_"It's too late now!"_

"However, we will not be able to defend ourselves as we always have. Times have changed. _Cybertron_ has changed."

The soft murmuring of the crowd rose steadily as Villanelle felt the unsettling feeling in her tanks grow.

_"Dolhearac is doomed and it's all your _fault_!"_

"As you all know, our beloved planet has been ravaged by war for countless vorns. Thus far, we have done what we can to stay out of it. However, today I would like to remind you that Cybertron is our home too. We cannot hope to think that hiding behind our walls and rifles will protect us from what's happening to it. I say it's long past time we fight for our home!"

_"Watch and see what you've done…"_

"During my service as Border Commander, I had access to many details of the outside war. I made it a matter of personal interest to follow its progression, and as such I now believe I am quite qualified to speak on the matter. This war can be won, but it will not end for many more millennia if we don't step in."

A deathly silence gripped the crowd. Villanelle could hear heavy footfalls approaching the balcony, and fought valiantly the tremor that was prickling down her spinal support.

_It's all our fault…_

Powderain noted the reactions of her people and lowered her gaze, "I don't expect you to understand. I know this is sudden, but I truly believe that this is the only way we can ensure Dolhearac's future security," at last she stood up a little straighter and stepped slightly to the side, "May I present to you our new ally, Lord Megatron, leader of the Decepticon faction."

_What have we done?_

Villanelle flinched as a massive silver mech strode past her and the other guards without so much as a glance and came to stand at Powderain's side. He looked over the gathered Dolhearans, and seemed to find the varied expressions of horror to be amusing as he smiled and turned to the Magistrate, "It is an honor, Magistrate Powderain. May our alliance bring a quickened end to this drawn out war."

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A/N: Stay tuned for Part 2 of the Dolhearan Legacy: Trade Your Trespasses! We're gonna go play with the Decepticons now :D


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